
Glass. 



Ea10_ 



Book H^ (o 






■ 5'ti-i Lo-v'. 



58th Congress \ 
3d Session I 



House of Representatives 



Document 
No. 474 



STATUES 



OF 



SAM HOUSTON and 
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 

Erected in Statuary Hall of the 
Capitol Building at Washington 



Proceedings in the House of Rep- 
resentatives on the Occasion of 
the Reception and Acceptance of 
the Statues from the State of Texas 



Compiled under the direction of the 
Joint Committee on Printing 



Washington 
Government Printing Office 

190 5 



^' 




Bureau ol Engraving and Pnnling 




Bureau of Engraving and Pnn 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Page 

c y 

Proceedings in the House 

Address of Mr. Cooper, of Texas ^ 

Address of Mr. Richardson, of Tennessee 3 

Address of Mr. Burgess, of Texas 4 

Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 49 

Address of Mr. Stephens, of Texas ° 

Address of Mr. Gibson, of Tennessee 73 

Address of Mr. Field, of Texas '^^ 

Address of Mr. Pinckney, of Texas 9 

Address of Mr. Wallace, of Arkansas ^°^ 

Address of Mr. Gillespie, of Texas- 

Address of Mr. Slayden, of Texas ^^7 

Proceedings in the Senate 

3 



ACCEPTANCE OF STATUES OF SAM HOUS- 
TON AND STEPHEN F. AUSTIN. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE 



MARCH 25, 1904. 

Mr. Burleson offered 

A concurrent resolution (H. C. Res. 53) that the vState 
of Texas be, and is hereby, authorized and granted the 
privilege of placing in Statuary Hall of the Capitol statues 
of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin — to the Com- 
mittee on the Library. 

APRIL 2, 1904. 

statues of SAM HOUSTON AND STEPHEN F. AUSTIN FOR 
STATUARY HALL. 

Mr. Burleson. ]\Ir. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
for the present consideration of House concurrent resolu- 
tion No. 53, which I shall send to the desk and ask to have 
read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved by the House of Representatives {the Senate concurring). That 
the vState of Texas be, and is hereby, authorized and granted the privilege 
of placing in Statuary Hall of the Capitol the statues (made by the sculptor 
Elisabet Ney, of Texas) of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, both 
of whom, now deceased, were citizens of Texas, illustrious for their his- 
toric renown, and that same be received as the two statues furnished and 
provided by said State in accordance with the provisions of section 1814 of 
the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

5 



6 Acceptance of Statues of 

Resolved further. That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the pre- 
siding officers of the House of Representatives and Senate, be forwarded 
to his excellency the governor of Texas. 

The Speaker. Is there objection to the present con- 
sideration of the resolution? 

There was no objection; and the resohttion was con- 
sidered, and agreed to. 

On motion of Mr. Burleson, a motion to reconsider the 
last vote was laid on the table. 



Sa})i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE 



JANUARY 20, 1905 
STATUEvS OF SAM HOUSTON AND STEPHEN F. AUSTIN. 

Mr. Cooper of Texas. Mr, Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent for the present consideration of the resohition 
which I send to the Clerk's desk to be read. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Cooper] asks unanimous consent for the present consid- 
eration of the resolution which the Clerk will read. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved by the House of Representatives, That the exercises appropriate 
to the reception and acceptance from the State of Texas of the statues of 
vSam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, erected in vStatuary Hall, in the 
Capitol, be made the special order for vSaturday, the 25th day of February, 
at 3 o'clock p. m. 

The Speaker. The question is on agreeing to the reso- 
lution. Is there objection? [After a pause.] The Chair 
hears none, and the resolution is agreed to. 

FEBRUARY 25, 1905. 
STATUES OF SAM HOUSTON AND STEPHEN F. AUSTIN, 

The Speaker. The Clerk will report the special 
order. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That the exercises appropriate to the reception and accept- 
ance from the State of Texas of the statues of Sam Houston and Stephen 
F. Austin, erected in Statuary Hall in the Capitol, be made the special 
order for Saturday, the 25th day of February, at 3 o'clock p. m. 



8 Acceptance of Statues of 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. 
Garner] will please take the chair. [Applause.] 

Mr. Cooper, of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I offer the fol- 
lowing resolutions. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The Clerk will report the 
resolutions. 

The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved by the House of Representatives {the Senate concurring). 
That the thanks of Congress be presented to the State of Texas for pro- 
viding the statues of vSam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, illustrious 
for their historic renown and distinguished in civic services. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions, duly authenticated, be trans- 
mitted to the governor of the State of Texas. 



Sam Hoiisto7i and Stephen F. Austin 



Address of Mr. Cooper, of Texas 

I\Ir. Speaker: All civilized and semicivilized peoples 
have made the effort to perpetuate in some tangible form 
the memory of their great and noble dead. This memo- 
rial sometimes assumes the form of a monument, some- 
times the form of a tomb, or temple, or a pjTamid, or a 
relief upon the walls of a palace, temple, or tomb. 
Often, however, it takes the form of a statue chiseled 
from stone or hammered from metal. 

Even before the dawn of history, when civilization, as 
we know it, first began to lift its head above the hilltops of 
ancient Judea and Phoenicia, Egypt, that enigma of the 
ages, alread)- hoary with its untold centuries of civic and 
political life, was filled with colossal images of its earlier 
kings, whose epitaphs were carved in a language even then 
dying with age. In later centuries the kings of Assyria, 
and, still later, those of Persia, followed the example of the 
Egyptians and wrought out impressive images of their 
kings in metal and marble. 

In the ancient temples of India are found statues of un- 
known antiquit}- commemorative of the virtues of Brahma 
or Buddha. The totem poles of Alaska, the rude images 
of ancient Peru, the primitive attempts at sculpture among 
the Aztecs of Mexico, alike attest that even among savages 
and semicivilized peoples this custom prevailed, and that it 
is born of a universal instinct. 



lo Acceptance of Statues of 

In ancient Greece commemorative sculpture reached its 
freest and fullest expression. The Greeks at first filled 
Athens with the images of every god and goddess, every 
faun and satyr, ever}' naiad and nymph known to their 
mythology. But the Greek mind was expansive and origi- 
nal. It had repudiated the doctrine of monarchy and 
kingly assumption of divine right to rule, and had estab- 
lished the first democracy. Recognizing that a good citi- 
zen might deser\'e the gratitude and reinembrance of his 
countr}'men as truh' as might a king, the Greeks preserved 
memories of their poets, their historians, their philosophers, 
and their military heroes. 

Rome and the modern world have feebly copied Greece 
in thus honoring those whose eminent services to their 
country or to humanit}- have entitled them to such recog- 
nition. 

The Government of the United States, appreciating the 
historical value to future generations of the collection of 
the statues of those who were prominent in our earlier his- 
tory, has invited each State in the Federal Union to erect 
in Statuary Hall two statues in honor of those two of her 
citizens whom it might deem most worthy of that distin- 
guished honor. 

In heart)' compliance with this invitation, the State of 
Texas has placed in that hall the statues of Sam Houston 
and Stephen F. Austin. 

The early history of Texas was stirring and eventful. 
On the border land between the wideh' different — often 
antagonistic — civilizations of the progressive Saxons and 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin ii 

the conservative Latin it was first a theater on which the 
scenes of exploration, colonization, oppression, insnrrection, 
revolution, invasion, and independence were presented in 
quick succession. Then for a few perilous }'ears it existed 
as an independent republic, threatened b)' Mexico, courted 
by European nations, but long repulsed b)- the United 
States in its efforts to secure a union with that country. 
Then came annexation, followed by a war with Mexico, 
which permanently determined its international boimdary 
and forever fixed its place as a member of the American 
Union. Superadded to the incessant activity born of this 
stirring social and political life was the necessity of pro- 
tecting the country from the repeated raids of the Indians. 
These original owners of the soil hovered like a dark storm 
cloud over the western frontier, and many a trail of blood 
and fire marked their savage inroads across the steadily 
advancing line of settlements. 

This strenuous life called for and called forth men of 
great and versatile talent. The enterprise of the pioneer, 
the daring of the scout, the industry and skill of the 
farmer, the courage of the soldier, the wisdom of the legis- 
lator, the genius of leadership, the talent for organization, 
the skill and tact of diplomacy were all needed to shape 
the destinies of the young State. There was no lack of 
able men, gifted b)- nature and trained in this practical 
school, to supply every social and political need. 

Rich in men of the highest type, bewildered by an im- 
posing arra}' of sons worth)' of ever}- honor, our State has 
found it no easy task to make the selection imposed by the 



12 Acceptance of Statues of 

act of Congress, but the task has been simplified by the 
reflection that the fame of those not thus selected is in no 
degree dependent upon memorials like these, but is secure 
in the records of history and in the memories of their ad- 
miring fellow-citizens. 

Stephen F. x^ustin and Sam Houston ! The founder 
and the preserver! Each the complement of the other. 
Without Austin to build States no Houston would be 
needed to liberate them from oppression or to defend them 
from aggression; and without the sheltering and conserv- 
ing genius of a Houston, vain would be the work of those 
who lay the foundations of States amid the solitude and 
savagery of the desert. Happy and wise, then, was the 
choice that linked these two great characters together in a 
common memorial, as the two great originals were asso- 
ciated in working out, in different w^ays, a common destiny 
for one of the greatest of the American Commonwealths. 

[Applause.] 

STEPHEN F. AUSTIN. 

The two distinguished men whose statues have been 
presented here were born in the same State (Virginia) in 
the same year, 1793. Though thus of the same age, yet 
Austin's connection with Texas history began many years 
before the arrival of his great colleague, and death removed 
him from the scene of their common labors more than a 
quarter of a century before the career of Houston was 
ended. Yet, in the 43 years of his life, he earned as sound 
a title as that of any man of his generation to the grateful 
remembrance of the j^eople of Texas. 



Sam Houston and Stephe?i F. Austin 13 

A popular historian, in contemplating the work of this 
famous pioneer, said : 

If he who, by conquest, wins an empire, receives the world's applause, 
how much more is due to those who, by unceasing toil, lay in the wilder- 
ness the foundations for an infant colony, and build thereon a vigorous 
and happy State! Surely there is not among men a more honorable des- 
tiny than to be the peaceful founder and builder of a new Commonwealth. 
Such was the destiny of Stephen F. Austin. 

No truer estimate than this can be made of the work 
of Austin. While he was yet a young man, the dying 
request of his father, Moses Austin, led him to come to 
Texas to complete a scheme of colonization into which 
his father had entered. Soon after his arrival in Texas, 
in the summer of 1821, changes in the organic form of 
the Mexican Government made it necessar}- for him to 
go in person, by the most primitive modes of travel, to 
the City of Mexico, more than 1,000 miles distant, 
to secure a confirmation of the contract made with his 
father. Successive INIexican revolutions brought on 
several forms of government, each of which invalidated 
the acts of its predecessor; and Austin was thus compelled 
to remain at the Mexican capital more than two }'ears. 
Such, however, was his diplomatic ability that he suc- 
ceeded in securing from each dominant faction, in due 
succession, a full ratification of the contract originally 
made with his father by the Mexican Government. 
Returning to Texas he found his colony rapidly disin- 
tegrating through the influence of a lawless element that 
had entered Texas during his absence. His contract 
with Mexico had conferred upon him judicial and military 
powers which rendered him almost independent of the 



14 Acceptance of Statues of 

local government. This fortunate circumstance not only 
gave free scope for the exercise of his great administrative 
abilities, but it brought order, peace, and prosperity to 
the colony. Violence and lawlessness disappeared under 
his rigid but just rule. Industry' was encouraged, provi- 
dence and thrift were inculcated, trade was fostered, public 
spirit awakened, civic pride developed by his precept and 
example. He neglected marriage. He built no home 
for himself, but lived among his colonists as a common 
guest of the community, heartily welcome at every fireside. 
He lived among them as a father and friend, a trusted 
counselor in every trouble, a faithful nurse in sickness, a 
provider in time of need, a guard in the hour of danger, 
an umpire whose ever-just and ever-satisf actor)- award 
settled disputes, a judge whose decision ever found unques- 
tioned acceptance among the litigants, a patriarch whose 
paternal influence bound together his widely scattered peo- 
ple in the bonds of a common brotherhood. [i\pplause.] 

But Austin's di])lomatic skill fully equaled his ability 
as an executive. At the head of a commission sent by the 
Mexican State of Texas to the Mexican capital, after much 
suffering and great trials, he secured such modifications of 
existing federal legislation as would secure the people of 
Texas in the enjoyment under the Mexican flag of a more 
liberal measure of political justice. 

At the outbreak of the Texas revolution Austin returned 
to Texas, and was at once sent to the United States as a 
commissioner to secure the recognition of Texan independ- 
ence, and his able presentation of his country's cause paved 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 15 

the way, first for the recognition of Texan independence, 
and, later, for annexation to the United States. 

The organization of a permanent government for the 
new Republic of Texas and the conclusion of a treaty of 
peace with Mexico divested Austin's mission of its impor- 
tance, and he returned to Texas to find, to his great joy, 
that the country had at last secured a form of government 
which guaranteed its people every right for which its sons 
had so valiantly contended in arms. A few months after- 
wards he was stricken down and quickly passed away, 
amid the lamentations of all the people of the State he 
had founded. 

His life was indeed that "simple life" of which we have 
heard so much in praise, and yet it v;as one of ceaseless 
toil, varied duties, great responsibilities, arduous privation, 
dangerous adventure, and frequent disappointment. It 
called for great industry, unlimited patience, high diplo- 
matic talent, unwearied persistence, a broad sympathy for 
his fellow-man, and a sublime effacement of self and self- 
interest that he might the more thoroughly consecrate 
himself to his noble mission. How well he succeeded the 
world knows. 

He left no wife and children to perpetuate his name and 
race ; but a nation wept at the news of the death of their 
gentle, patient, sympathic, self-denying friend and coun- 
selor ; and to-day, after the lapse of three score years and 
ten, no name is more fragrant with pleasant memories in 
Texan hearts or evokes a more ardent sense of gratitude 
and regret than that of Stephen F. Austin. 



1 6 Acceptance of Statues of 

SAM HOUSTON. 

The life of Sam Houston was one full of romance, 
and yet characterized by seriousness of purpose and 
clouded by tragic incident. Born in Virginia in 1793, 
he removed to Tennessee in early life and there lived 
near the Cherokee Indians. The primitive life of these 
simple people made a deep impression on his youthful 
mind, and there is little doubt that this influence abided 
with him through life. 

The time and place of Houston's early life concurred 
to fit him for the career which subsequentl)- opened up 
to him. During his early }outli and young manhood 
there raged about him and throughout the entire country 
a storm of discussion of the meaning and interpretation 
of the provisions of the lately adopted Federal Constitu- 
tion. Chief Justice Marshall sat upon the Supreme 
Bench. Jefferson was still living and teaching the doc- 
trines of the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton 
had but lately died, but he had left behind him a school 
of admirers to echo his advocacy of centralization and 
life tenure, his distrust of the people, and his reluctance 
to admit them to a full control of the Government. The 
Kentucky and Virginia resolutions and the alien and 
sedition laws lashed public sentiment into a fervor of 
excitement. The wisdom of the Louisiana purchase was 
still in debate. The war of 181 2, the Hartford conven- 
tion, and the Government's Indian policy kept popular 
interest wide awake, while looming up into the foreground 
of the near future were the Monroe doctrine, the ]\Iissouri 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin ij 

compromise, nullification, and the United States Bank. 
Into this whirlpool of political turmoil had fate cast 
Houston's youth and early manhood. His mind grasped, 
in comprehensive outline, the salient features of each 
question, and his whole public career was characterized 
by rugged strength of conviction, clearness of statement 
and understanding, and a controlling regard for the 
public interest. As a fearless and faithful soldier for 
five years on the Indian frontier, he gained the 
knowledge of the art of war, which no doubt pro\'ed 
of great value to him when years afterwards upon the 
plains of Texas, with an army far inferior in numbers, 
discipline, and equipment, he confronted and aftervvards 
crushed the Mexican army under Santa Ana, the vaunted 
"Napoleon of the West." Resigning from the United 
States Army, he chose the law for his profession, and 
entered a career seemingly full of promise. He rose 
rapidly to distinction in his profession. 

He was the pupil, if not the protege, of Jackson, and his 
life-long friend, personally and politically, and from Jack- 
son, to some extent, was gathered that spirit of independence 
and firnmess which strongh- marked his whole ofiicial life. 
Houston was elected to Congress from the State of Ten- 
nessee in 1823 and again in 1825. He left Congress in 
1827 to accept the governorship of Tennessee, to which 
high position the people of that State had called him. 

Two years later, under the shadow of a great domestic 

sorrow, he resigned his place as governor and sought 

seclusion among his old friends, the Cherokee Indians, in 

the Indian Territory. From the solitude of his secluded 

H. Doc. 474, 58-3 2 



1 8 Acceptance of Statues of 

life among the Cherokees he .heard the first faint murmurs 
of the coming Texas revolution. With his strong sense of 
justice he recognized the right of the questions involved in 
that revolution, and with characteristic promptness he 
removed to Texas in 1832 and espoused the cause of right 
and justice. 

Within a year from the date of his arrival in Texas he 
was made a member of the first (San Felipe) constitutional 
convention and placed at the head of the military arm of 
the provisional government then and there instituted. 

He was also a member of the second convention (New 
Washington). This body adopted a declaration of inde- 
pendence, and Houston was again chosen commander in 
chief of the Texas forces then being marshaled to resist 
the invasion of the Mexican army under Santa x\na. The 
world knows the history of that campaign, of the battle of 
San Jacinto, the annihilation of the Mexican arm), the 
capture of their commander in chief, and the subsequent 
and consequent recognition of Texan independence. 

Houston's victory at San Jacinto was so complete that 
even the enemy accepted it as final, and not another gun 
was fired on Texas soil. 

It would have been strange if, after his eminent services 
to his newly adopted State, Houston had not been chosen 
as the first President of the new-risen Republic of Texas, 
which his generalship had saved from extinction. He 
served the Republic in that capacity from 1836 to 1838. 
His policy was marked by the same traits that characterized 
his official life in all other stations — economy in public 
expenditures, justice in dealing with the Indians, strict 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 19 

regard for private right with all classes of citizens, and a 
tenacious adherence to whatever course he had once decided 
on as right. Men of this character invariably meet with 
bitter opposition, and Houston was no exception to the 
rule. Yet he retained that thorough respect from his 
critics which honesty of conviction always inspires; and the 
wisdom of his administration as the first President of the 
Texan Republic was attested by the fact that he left the 
Republic at peace with the Indians, friendly with Mexico, 
and with its treasur}- obligations at par. 

From 1839 to 1841 he was a member of the Texan Con- 
gress, was reelected President of Texas in 1841, and during 
the dark days of the Republic's infanc}-, when it was 
encompassed by financial and political dangers and seemed 
on the verge of ruin, Houston's strong personality, his 
steadfast faith in his country's future, and his strong per- 
sistence saved the Republic from abdicating its place among 
the nations and seeking absorption into some European 
state. 

Foreseeing with prophetic eye the brilliant destiny await- 
ing the American Union, and recognizing the superior 
political and commercial advantages that would accrue to 
the Texan people by the consolidation of their Republic 
with its more powerful northern neighbor, he took the first 
step toward annexation and remained a steadfast advocate 
of that policy until its final consummation. 

The new State of Texas, in prompt and liberal recog- 
nition of his distinguished services, sent him to the United 
States Senate, where for twelve years he was a central 
figure in a body of men numbering among themselves 



20 Acceptance of Statues of 

some of the ablest statesmen of American political history. 
With Calhoun and Webster, Clay and Benton, he discussed 
the great questions of that day; and linked with them 
in their strenuous official careers during his earthly life, 
he now shares with them the full measure of political 
immortality. 

The closing act of his official life was in strict keeping 
with the character of the man. Being required to take the 
oath of allegiance to the new Confederacy into which 
Texas had entered, he could not stultify himself by casting 
lio-htlv aside the fruits of that union with the United States 
for which he had long and successfully labored. He de- 
clined to take the oath, resigned his position as governor 
of Texas, and retired to the shades of private life, carrying 
with him the unstinted respect, the high admiration, and 
the profound gratitude of all his fellow-citizens. 

In 1863, amid the fierce clamor of that great civil war, 
which perhaps forms the most memorable landmark in the 
march of the Anglo-Saxon people up the centuries of 
political progress, Houston passed into the calm and 
peace of that world peopled by the spirits of ''the just made 
perfect." In a simple grave, devoid of show, lie the re- 
mains of the plain man and citizen who in life shunned 
all pretense and display. Around him, spread out in the 
golden glory of a southern sun, stretches out in boundless 
reaches of plain and prairie and plateau the magnificent 
State he helped into being, protected in its infancy, and 
ably represented in these halls in its early maturity. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 21 

AUSTIN AND HOUSTON. 

Air. Speaker, the generation that knew these men and 
loved them and honored them has nearly passed away, 
and a swarming population is now building the super- 
structure of a mighty State on the foundations so solidly 
laid by Austin and Houston. Two beautiful cities and 
two popular counties preserve on Texan soil the names 
of her two noble sons, and their statues, chiseled in marble, 
perpetuate their memories here ; but if, as has been said, 
the most enduring monuments are those we build in the 
hearts of men, then the fame of Austin and Houston 
is indeed secure, for as long as the great Commonwealth 
by the southern sea stands as a bulwark of freedom and 
a monument of heroic achievement, go long will the 
names of these two men endure. 

Austin and Houston! The founder and the liberator! 
Fellow-citizens of the United States, admit these statues 
to their rightful place in this Hall of Fame. Texas 
offers them as her proud contribution to this impressive 
s\-mposium of American greatness. As the countless hosts 
of visitors from ever}- land pass through this Hall these 
memorials will impress upon them the fact that, despite 
all our commercialism and love of wealth and show, the 
American people still measure men b}- their merit, and 
that they honor, without respect to birth or class, those 
who have served their country well. And if the evil 
day should ever come — in some far-off centurN-, if at all, 
we hope — when our ideals shall have changed and our 
free Republic shall be replaced by the rule of a man or 



22 Acceptance of Statues of 

class, may these statues still look down from their ped- 
estals into the upturned faces below and tell in speechless 
eloquence of that happ)- long ago when this circle of 
heroes and statesmen and sages lived upon earth and each 
gave his life's best work to found and perpetuate a 
government which, ruled by right and justice, will reflect 
the glory of God and promote the good of man. [Loud 
applause.] 



Sa}>i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 23 



Address of Mr. Richardson, of Tennessee 

Mr. Speaker : Texas, imperial in her area and resonrces, 
honors herself when she places the statues of Sam Hous- 
ton and Stephen F. Austin in the Memorial Hall of 
this Capitol. Others have spoken to-day, and still others 
will yet speak of both of these men, but in what I shall 
say I shall refer alone to Houston. In the brief time 
allotted reference can be made to only a comparativeh' 
few of the incidents and events in his long, varied, unique, 
and sometimes thrilling career, and they can barely be 
mentioned, while much, very much, that is of surpassing 
interest and importance in his life must necessarily be 
omitted. It is peculiarly appropriate that Texas should 
honor Sam Houston, for while he was born in Virginia 
and grew to manhood in Tennessee, and there won the 
very highest position in the State, and in fact to all 
intents and purposes made himself a Tennessean, yet at 
last it was in Texas, before and after she became a State 
of the American Union, that he reached the zenith of his 
fame. It was in Texas that he not only won renown for 
himself, but made the very name Texas a synonym for 
all that stands for patriotism, courage, and heroism. I 
shall not put forth the claim that Houston alone won 
this glorious distinction for Texas, for there were other 
heroes and patriots, whose names I have not time to 
barely mention here and now, who justly shared it with 



24 Acceptance of Statues of 

him. There is one, however, I am constrained to name, 
becanse he, too, was a Tennessean, a native of that State. 
I refer to the immortal Davy Crockett. [Applause.] He 
was born in Tennessee, and represented one of her dis- 
tricts on this floor for three Congresses. He was at last 
drawn to Texas by her thrilling story and the burning 
desire to assist her in h'er heroic struggle for liberty and 
independence. At the Alamo he gave his life to Texas. 
Houston and Crockett ! What a priceless legacy Ten- 
nessee bequeathed to Texas in these two men — men whose 
names stand for courage, dut>-, and heroism, and are indis- 
solubly associated with both States ! 

Houston was born :\Iarch 2, 1793, in Rockbridge 
County, Va., and was of Scotch-Irish descent. When he 
was quite young his father died and his mother removed 
with him, when he was only 12 years of age, to Blount 
County, Tenn., and located near the line of the Cherokee 
Indians. As a boy he spent much of his time with these 
Indians, became warmly attached to them, and was 
adopted by one of the chiefs. His early life was spent 
there in their new home on the banks of the beautiful 
stream which gave its name to the State, and he was a 
frequent inmate of the wigwams of this Indian tribe. It 
was here that he first tasted the pleasures of that romantic 
and undisciplined mode of life characteristic of the red 
man, and which possessed a strong fascination for him, as 
it has often been shown to possess even for those reared in 
the lap of luxurious indulgence. At the age of 20 >'ears he 
enlisted in the Seventh United States Infantry and fought 
with desperate bravery through the Creek war. In the 



Sa})i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 25 

battle of the Horse Shoe, where he was badly wounded, he 
attracted the attention of General Jackson, who caused him 
to be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Regular 
Army. His wounds were so severe that he was borne to 
the home of his mother in East Tennessee on a litter. In 
1 818 he was promoted to be a first lieutenant. Soon after 
his promotion, and while John C. Calhoun was Secretar}- of 
War, his conduct in connection with the smuggling of 
negroes from Florida into the United States was criticised 
b>- the War Department, and he resigned from the Arm}-. 
An investigation was had, and it was conclusiveh- shown 
that the charge against him was unfounded ; that he had 
actually endeavored to prevent the smuggling, and he was 
completely exonerated. He then made his home in 
Nashville, Tenn., where he studied the law. In 181 9 he 
was elected district attorne}- ; was early thereafter appointed 
adjutant-general of the State, and in 1821 was elected 
major-general of State ^Militia over strong opposition. He 
was elected to Congress fro*n the Nashville district, in 
which General Jackson resided, in 1823, ^^^ was reelected 
in 1825. 

During his second term he fought a duel with Gen. 
William White, of Nashville, whom he wounded. As a 
member of the House he met his old comrade and com- 
mander, General Jackson, who was then a United States 
Senator from Tennessee, and as they each served on the 
Military Committee of their respective Houses, they were 
frequently officially brought together. In Congress he 
acted with Jackson, and in opposition to the policies of 
John Quincy Adams and :\Ir. Clay, and gave high evidence 



26 Acceptance of Statues of 

of ability and statesmanship. In 1827 ^"^^ was the snc- 
cessfnl candidate for governor of Tennessee, defeating 
Willie 51ount and Newton Cannon, both men of much 
ability, and each of whom at different times was chosen 
go\'ernor of the State. In all of these contests he was 
the ardent friend and partisan of General Jackson, which 
fact doubtless had influence in aiding him in each con- 
test to win the victor}'. While governor of Tennessee, 
in January, 1829, he married Miss Eliza Allen, the 
daughter of a highly influential and prominent family in 
Sumner Count}-. Three months thereafter he suddenly 
separated from his wife, resigned from the office of go\-- 
ernor, and, without a word of explanation, left the State 
and went to the territory west of the Mississippi River, 
and again settled among the Cherokee Indians, making 
his' home with the old Indian chief who had adopted 
him in early life. His resignation was highly sensational, 
and throughout the State of Tennessee a storm of vitu- 
peration was raised against him that was not easily 
quelled. Governor Houston, with emphasis, declined to 
give to the public au}- reason or cause for his course, 
^•et he did not hesitate to say that the cause of the sep- 
aration from his wife iii no way affected her character. 
On the date of his separation from his wife he addressed 
a letter to the speaker of the senate of the Tennessee 
legislature, Mr. Hall, who was to succeed him, under the 
law, in the office of governor. This letter has remained 
buried in the archives of tlre^Tennessee Historical Societ}' 
at Nashville, and I believe was ne\'er published until 
recently, when a prominent gentleman (x\. S. Colyar) at 



Scrni Houston and Stephen F. Austin 27 

Nashville, a man of ability and literary attainment, gave 
it to the pnblic in a valnable work written by himself, 
entitled the "Life and Times of Andrew Jackson." He 
says of this letter that " the original is in a small, ronnd 
hand, signed in clear, bold hand, withont an error in 
spelling or pnnctnation, and wonld pass for the prodnct 
of a man of high literary attainment. In sentiment, 
delicate in touching his great family affliction, and beau- 
tifully remembering the nation's great soldier who had 
been more than a father to him, and in separating from 
a people who had so honored him, no attainment in lit- 
erature could improve it." I will reproduce this letter, 
as it will assist in illustrating the character of this 
many sided man. It is as follows: 

Executive Office, 
Nashville, Tenn., April 16, iS2g. 
Sir: It has become my duty to resign the office of chief magistrate of 
the State, and to place in your hand the authority and responsibility, which 
on such an event devolves on you by the provisions of the constitution. 
In dissolving the political connection which has so long and in such a 
variety of forms existed between the people of Tennessee and myself, no 
private affliction, however deep or incurable, can forbid an expression of 
the grateful recollections so eminently due to the kind partialities of an 
indulgent public. From my earliest youth, whatever of talent was com- 
mitted to my care, has been honestly cultivated and expended for the 
common good; and at no period of a life, which has certainly been marked 
by a full portion of interesting events, have any views of private interest 
or private ambition been permitted to mingle in the higher duties of public 
trust. In reviewing the past I can only regret that my capacity for being 
useful was so unequal to the devotion of my heart, and it is one of the few 
consolations of my life, that even had I been blessed with ability equal to 
my zeal, my country's generous support in every vicissitude of life has 
been more than equal to them both. /That veneration for public opinion 
by which I have measured every act of my official life, has taught me to 
hold no delegated power which would not daily be renewed by my con- 
stituents, could the choice be daily submitted to a sensible expression of 



28 Acceptance of Statues of 

their will. And although shielded by a perfect consciousness of undi- 
minished claim to the confidence and support of ni}- fellow-citizens, and 
delicately circumstanced as I am and by my own misfortunes more than the 
fault or contrivance of any one, overwhelmed by sudden calamities, it is 
certainly due to myself and more respectful to the world, that I retire 
from a position which^n the public judgment, I might seem to occupy by 
questionable authorityj It yields me no small share of comfort, so far as 
I am able of taking comfort from any circumstance, that in resigning my 
executive charge, I am placing it in the hands of one whose integrity 
and worth have been long tried; who understands and will pursue the true 
interests of the State; and who, in the hoir of success and in the hour of 
adversity, has been the consistent and valued friend of the great and good 
man now enjoying the triumph of his virtues in the conscious security of 

a nation's gratitude. 

Sam Houston. 
To Gen. Wm. Hai^l, 

Speaker of the Senate, Tennessee. 

I wish here to emphasize one passage in this letter, as I 
deem it worthy of especial notice, and it may be com- 
mended to all politicians. It seems to me to be the refine- 
ment of delicate sentiment. The clause of his letter to 
which I refer is this: "That veneration for public opinion 
by which I have measured every act of my official life has 
taught me to hold no delegated power which would not 
daily be renewed by my constituents could the choice be 
daily submitted to a sensible expression of their will." 

Houston was of a tall and commanding figure, im- 
posing in appearance, pleasant and affable in demeanor, 
and of popular manners. Public speaking and political 
oratory had not been so fully developed in his day as 
now, and yet as an attorney and in other ways he had 
shown that he possessed oratorical powers of no mean 
order. He was, however, more a man of action than of 
words. In 1832 he made a visit to Washington on busi- 
ness of the Indians. He came clothed in the garb of 



Sa)n Houstoji and Stephen F. Austin 29 

the Indian, and was kindl}' received by almost everyone, 
and particnlarly by President Jackson, who, of course, 
knew him well. While in Washington on this visit he 
was charged by William Stanberry, a Member of Con- 
gress from Ohio, with attempting to obtain a frandnlent 
CDntract for fnrnishing Indian snpplies. He felt himself 
insnlted by Mr. Stanberry, for which he attacked and 
beat him severely. He was arraigned for this offense at 
the bar of the House, was tried, and was reprimanded 
and fined, but the fine was remitted by the President. 

His trial before the House lasted for about four weeks, 
during which period there was much bitterness shown in 
the debates on the subject, the friends of the Adminis- 
tration of President Jacksci usually taking Houston's 
side of the controversy. The President himself w^as out- 
spoken in his behalf, and did not find fault with him 
for his assault on the Member of the House. It is 
alleged that he said that "After a few more examples of 
the same kind, Members of Congress would learn to keep 
civil tongues in their heads." On leaving W'ashington 
for his Indian home after this trial he passed through 
Tennessee, and was received throughout the State 
wherever he went with flattering demonstrations of 
regard. He was urged to remain in the State, but chose 
not to stay, preferring to return to his wigwam in the 
Indian Nation. After returning to the Indians and 
remaining a while in Arkansas, he determined to leave 
that region and remove to Texas, where he was to find 
a broader field and wider opportunities for the display 



30 Accepta7ice of Statues of 

of the strong and excellent qualities of mind lie pos- 
sessed, and where he no donbt thought he would be the 
better enabled to accomplish his destiny. 

While in Arkansas he met Elias Rector, afterwards 
governor of that State, and Albert Pike, both men more 
or less resembling himself in spirit and resolution, and 
between whom and himself strong ties of friendship were 
formed. General Pike a few years before his death 
related the following incident in the life of Houston : 

Houston was leaving Arkansas for his new home in 
Texas, and circumstances threw Rector and himself to- 
gether for a ride on horseback of a da)- or two, when their 
paths were to separate, each to go his wa}-. Rector was 
then United States marshal c I the Territory. The horse 
upon which he was mounted was a stronger and better one 
than was Houston's. The latter, it seems, was mounted 
on a small pou)- that had suffered the misfortune of losing 
his tail. As they were about to separate, Houston pro- 
posed a trade of their horses, because, as he said, his had 
no tail with which to defend himself from the flies, which 
were a sore pest in the southern country whither he was 
journeying, and Rector consented. The}' dismounted and 
proceeded to make the exchange, each keeping his own 
bridle and saddle. While on the ground, and as he was 
about to bid his friend Rector good-by, he made a little 
speech in the nature of an apostrophe to his pony, the title 
to which had passed from him. General Pike said he 
could not give HoUvSTOn's speech in the exact words he 
used, but that in substance it was as follows: "Jack, my 
faithful old servant, nou and I must part. We have been 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 31 

friends a long time and have been mntnally beneficial to 
each other. Yon have been a good servant to me ; bnt, 
Jack, there comes a time in the life of every man when .he 
and his friends mnst separate. Though }'on have served 
me long and faithfully, and we have been true friends, the 
time has now come when we must take final leave of each 
other. At such a time it is but just, my good old com- 
panion, that I should give expression to my feelings. You 
are a faithful pou}-. You are a hardy pony. You are a 
sure-footed pon\-. But cruel man has made you defense- 
less against the common enemy of your kind, the pesky 
flies. This is the hot season, and where I am going they 
are very thick. Against these pests the Almighty saw fit 
in His wisdom to give you defense, but man has taken it 
from you, and against them without a tail }ou are help- 
less. I must therefore with pain and anguish part with 
yon." When he was ready to mount and leave Rector, 
the latter said to him: "Houston, I wish to give vou 
something as a keepsake before we separate, and I have 
nothing that will do for the gift except my razor. I never 
saw a better one. They say one ought not to give his 
friends an edged tool, as it might cut friendship, but this 
one will not cut your friendship and mine." Houston 
accepted the razor and said : " Rector, I accept your gift, 
and, mark my words, if I have good luck, this razor will 
sometime shave the chin of the President of a republic." 
[Applause.] The dream of a republic for Texas was even 
then in the mind of this remarkable man, and in visions 
thereof he saw himself as its President. His friend Rector 
probably thought it was a hallucination of his eccentric 



2,2 Acceptance of Statues of 

friend, but he lived to see the dream, if it were a dream, 
of Houston a living reality. He went directly to Texas. 
It was not long after his arrival before a convention was 
called to meet at San Felipe de Austin. It met April i, 
1833, and Houston was chosen a member of it. This 
convention adopted a constitution, but not until Houston 
had had inserted in it a provision forbidding the establish- 
ment of banks by the legislature. He was then elected 
attorne}--general of a portion of Texas, and was chosen a 
member of the "general consultation" of 1835 that met to 
establish a provisional government. He did not at that 
time favor absolute independence, but was elected com- 
mander in chief of the army of Texas. 

A convention of which he was a member met at New 
Washington and adopted a declaration of absolute inde- 
pendence March 2, 1836, which also reelected him 
commander in chief. Following this action on the part 
of Texas came war with Mexico, in which Houston took 
a prominent and liighh- honorable part. The Mexican 
army, commanded by Santa Ana, invaded Texas and 
achieved several important and blood}' victories, but on 
April 21, 1836, their army, 1,800 strong, met the Texans, 
750 strong, under Houston, on the banks of the San 
Jacinto, and after a fierce conflict the Mexicans were 
totally routed, losing 650 killed and 730 prisoners, their 
general, Santa Ana, being among the captured. When the 
numbers engaged are taken into account, histor}- does not 
record a more brilliant achievement. Houston himself 
was wounded b}- a shot in his ankle, which fractured the 
bone. The result of this battle was the complete rout of 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin '^2, 

the Mexican ami}-, and it gave independence to Texas. 
The Republic of Texas was promptly recognized by 
England, France, Belgium, and the United States. 
Houston, by reason of his physical condition, was taken 
to New Orleans for medical treatment. The election 
of the first regular president of Texas was appointed for 
the first Monday of September, 1836. The candidates 
were Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, and Henry 
Smith. Houston was elected, receiving 4,374 votes out 
of 5,014, the whole number cast. He at once appointed 
his two late opponents, Austin and Smith, to the principal 
offices in his cabinet. During his term of office he set to 
work to secure the admission of Texas into our Union of 
States. He placed her financial affairs on a healthy basis, 
her paper was at par, she was at peace, not only with 
Mexico, but with the Indian tribes. When he retired 
from the Presidency, he serv^ed two years in the Texas 
Congress, and in 1841 was again elected President of the 
Republic. 

Although he had been out of the Presidency for only 
about two years, he found important errors of his predeces- 
sor to correct. B}- unwise and unfortunate management 
strife and conflicts with the Indians had been stirred up, 
and the public debt, which was insignificant when Houston 
retired two }'ears before, had increased to nearly $5,000,000. 
He enforced while in office the most rigid economy; reduced 
all salaries, including his own, about one-half; abolished all 
offices not strictly required for the sen-ice, and permitted 
no appropriation to be made except those necessar}- for the 
existence of his government, and at the same time restored 

H. Doc. 474, 5S-3 3 



34 Acceptance of Statues of 

amicable relations with the Indians. In June, 1842, the 
Texas Congress passed a bill declaring him Dictator, and 
voted 10,000,000 acres of land to resist the threatened 
Mexican invasion. Houston vetoed these measures, and 
the trouble with Mexico was averted by him. While Presi- 
dent he put into effective play some of his powers as a 
diplomat. He was sincerely desirous of having Texas 
annexed to our Union, and had allowed no opportunity to 
escape him while serving Texas to advance this project. 
He was a farsighted statesman, and realized in its fullest 
importance the advantages of having the protecting arm of 
our Government extended over her. He was acquainted 
wnth her vast resources and knew that under the benignant 
rule of this Government, with her genial climate and her 
fertile soil, she would be speedily developed, and that the 
interest likewise of the United States would be promoted 
by annexation. 

As a means of inducement to the United States to 
give encouragement to him and his colaborers in their 
efforts for annexation, he began coquetting in a diplo- 
matic way with France, England, and Spain. He knew 
that the pronounced opposition of the United States to 
the intrusion of any European nation into American 
territory could not be overcome, and in diplomatic fashion 
he availed himself of this feeling and prejudice to 
quicken the sense of this country in favor of annexation. 
At the time of which I speak the question of the 
annexation of Texas was becoming a burning issue in 
the political parties of this country. The efforts of those 
favoring annexation with us, and those in Texas who 



Sajn Hon st 071 and Stephen F. Austin 35 

followed the lead of Houston were successful, and on 
December 29, 1845, Texas entered our Union as a State. 
By this action, the second time in her history, she 
became a part of the United States. She had been once 
before under our flag, and had been unwisely or improvi- 
dently ceded away to a foreign power, but now she was 
in the Union as a sovereign State, and in to stay. This 
was the first instance in our history that a State has 
been admitted as such without having gone through a 
probationary term as a Territory. This accession to our 
territory was under President Polk's Administration, and 
it was characterized by him as a bloodless achievement. 
He said no arm of force had been raised by the United 
States to produce the result; that the sword had no part 
in the victory; that we had not sought to extend our 
territorial possessions by conquest, or our republican 
institutions over a reluctant people. It was the deliberate 
homage of each people to the great principle of our 
federative union. 

If we consider the extent of territory involved in the 
annexation, its prospective influence on America, the 
means by which it has been accomplished, springing 
purely from the choice of the people themselves to share 
the blessings of our Union, the history of the world may 
be challenged to furnish a parallel. And he said, in con- 
templating the grandeur of this event, it is not to be 
forgotten that the result was achieved in despite of the 
diplomatic interference of European monarchies. Even 
France, the country which had been our ancient ally, 
the country which has a common interest with us in 



36 Acceptance of Statues of 

maintaining the freedom of the seas, the country which, by 
the cession of Louisiana, first opened to us access to the Gulf 
of Mexico, the country with which we have been every 
year drawing more and more closely the bonds of suc- 
cessful commerce, most unexpectedly, and to our unfeigned 
regret, took part in an effort to prevent annexation and to 
impose on Texas, as a condition of the recognition of her 
independence by Mexico, that she would never join herself 
to the United States. We may rejoice that the tranquil 
and pervading influence of the American principle of self- 
government was sufficient to defeat the purposes of British 
and French interference, and that the almost unanimous 
voice of the people of Texas has given to that interference 
a peaceful and effective rebuke. From this example 
European Governments may learn how vain diplomatic 
arts and intrigues must ever prove upon this continent 
against that system of self-government which seems natural 
to our soil, and which will ever resist foreign interference. 
And he bespoke for Texas at the hands of Congress a 
liberal and generous spirit in all that concerns her interest 
and prosperity, to the end that she should never have cause 
to reg-ret that she had united her " lone star " to our 
glorious constellation. 

Houston was one of her two first United States Senators, 
taking his seat in March, 1846, and serv'ing until 1859. He 
was warmly attached to the Union of the States, as is shown 
by his votes and speeches in the Senate. He opposed the 
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill, and voted against the Lecompton constitution of 1857, 



Sa)?i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 37 

which provided for slavery in Kansas, and in this displeased 
many of his sonthern colleagues. He advocated the admis- 
sion of California as a free State, and the construction of 
the Pacific Railroad through Texas. He was always the 
friend of the Indians and of measures in the Senate that 
tended to the betterment of their condition. It was a 
favorite expression of his that " no treaty made and carried 
out in good faith had ever been violated by the Indians." 
He was popular with both of the great political parties, as 
shown by the fact that he was considered available by 
members of each as a candidate for President. Votes were 
cast for him for the presidential nomination by delegates 
in the convention of the Democratic party in 1852, and in 
that of the American party in 1856. In the convention of 
the Union or Whig party in i860, at Baltimore, in which 
John Bell, of Tennessee, received the nomination for Presi- 
dent, Houston was his chief opponent. The delegates 
from Tennessee placed Mr. Bell forward, while those from 
Texas presented Houston, who was supported also by the 
delegation from New York. In this convention the cry 
was union against disunion. On the second ballot Mr. 
Bell was nominated, receiving 68)^ votes, while Houston 
received 57 votes. In that emergency it so happened that 
the vote of Tennessee was decisive of the result. It was 
cast for Mr. Bell, and it defeated Houston. One delegate 
from Tennessee did break away from his colleagues and 
voted for Houston; and it is certainly true that Mr. Bell, 
who was the idol of his party in the State, was the only 
man who could have received the vote of Tennessee over 
him. 



38 Acceptance of Stahtes of . 

In the election for governor of Texas in 1857 he was 
defeated, bnt in 1859 he was again chosen to that office. 
This time he became the seventh governor of Texas, as he 
had been the seventh governor of Tennessee. As I have 
already indicated, he was warmly attached to the nnion 
of the States, and while he greatly deplored the election 
of Mr. Lincoln as the result of the national contest in 
i860, he declared that in his election alone he saw no 
grounds for secession. After the secession of the State 
of Texas, in 1861, he refused to take the oath of office 
to the Confederate government and was deposed from his 
office as governor of the State. The Government at 
Washington thereupon offered to assist him, but he firmly 
declined such aid. On May 10, 1861, he spoke publicly 
at Independence, Tex. In this speech he entered upon 
the defense of his position and that of those who acted 
with him in their conduct toward the war. He said, 
" The voice of hope was weak, since drowned by the guns 
of Fort Sumter. The time has come when a man's 
section is his country. I stand by mine. Whether we 
have opposed this secession movement or favored it, we 
must alike meet its consequences. It is no time to turn 
back now." And thus, like many others of which he was 
only the type, however devoted and ardent was their love 
and veneration for the union of the States, the guns of 
Fort Sumter silenced their opposition to the efforts of their 
States to separate from the Union, and henceforward they 
submitted, as he did, silently to the inevitable, while many 
others who felt as he did in the beginning drew their 
swords and went forth to battle to defend their section 



Sam Housto7i and Stephen F. Austin 39 

from what they considered the unconstitutional, unwar- 
ranted, and unjustifiable assault made upon it. Houston 
took no active part in public affairs after retiring from the 
office of governor. On July 26, 1863, at Huntsville, Walker 
County, Tex., he died. The marble shafts set up in yonder 
hall in commemoration of Sam Houston and Stephen F. 
Austin will perish and molder into dust long before their 
acts and deeds, and those of their colaborers, in behalf of 
Texas shall be forgotten; and longer still will it be before 
the results of those acts and deeds shall cease to be felt and 
shall cease to bring rich and countless blessings to their 
posterity. [Loud applause.] 



40 Acceptaiice of Statues of 



Address of Mr. Burgess, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker, the act of Congress creating Statuary 
Hall as a place in wliich each State of the Union could 
place the statue of two of its citizens is grounded upon a 
wise patriotism, in that it tends to both State and national 
pride, to the uplift of our national character, to the 
increased tension of "the mystic cords of memory stretch- 
ing from every battlefield and patriot grave to every liv- 
ing heart and hearthstone all over this broad land." The 
place selected is one of the most appropriate to further 
the purpose; namely, the old Hall of the House of 
Representatives. 

That gifted writer, who has so often entertained and 
instructed us by his articles in the Washington Post — 
Savoyard — recently says of this Hall: 

This Hall is the famous echo chamber, according to Captain Kennedy, 
the chief of the National Capitol Guides, the most perfect in the world. 
It was in this Hall that some of the most illustrious men in all parlia- 
mentary history engaged in forensic combat. Here Clay was five times 
chosen Speaker. Here was debated the issues represented by Jefferson 
and the elder Adams, Jackson and the younger Adams, alien and sedi- 
tion, embargo and war, the tariff of 1828, the force bill of 1831 and the 
compromise of 1S32, the Mexican war and the Wilmot proviso, the com- 
promise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska bill, the Dred Scott decision 
and Lecompton, secesssion and the war of 1861 — all these were here 
debated, and numberless other kindred political issues that necessarily 
arise in a free countrj-, where parties have their germ in the individualism 
of the citizen or the paternalism of the government. 

Volumes might be written of the men who made this old Hall historic 
and illustrious. Here Randolph lorded it as has no other man, and here 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 41 

the younger Adams earned the title "old man eloquent." Here he 
assailed Webster and was assailed by Evans. It was here that Marshal] 
and Wise encountered the old statesman in debates on the twenty-first 
rule, and flew at each other's throats in discussions of the vetoes of Presi- 
dent Tyler. And here Douglas fleshed his nearly maiden blade in a dis- 
cussion of the Texas boundary with the veteran who, as Secretary of State 
in Monroe's cabinet, had claimed all Texas. It was here that S. S. 
Prentiss made the most eloquent speech Congress ever heard, if we are to 
believe tradition. 

Mr. Speaker, Texas has availed herself of the privilege 
of this act and has caused to be placed in this Hall statues 
of two of her most illustrious citizens — Sam Houston 
and Stephen Fuller Austin. 

Perhaps no Commonwealth owes a deeper or wider debt 
of gratitude to other States and other lands for the gift of 
splendid sons and daughters to uplift and adorn her citizen- 
ship than does the State which, in part, I have the honor 
here to represent. Almost every State in the Union, and 
almost every civilized country in Europe, has contributed 
to the best of the citizenship of Texas, and we have, 
doubtless, the most commingled blood on the face of the 
earth. The deepest debt of gratitude, perhaps, she owes 
for such gifts is to those two splendid Commonwealths — 
Tennessee and Missouri. [Applause.] For the first gave 
her Sam Houston and the second Stephen F. Austin. 

It is not my purpose to speak at length as to the 
character and capacity of these two illustrious men or to 
recount in detail the heroic events in which each bore so 
potent and conspicuous a part. 

Sam Houston had a most remarkable, a most romantic, 
a most successful career. He was governor of Tennessee ; 
he was commander in chief of the Texas revolutionary 



42 Acceptance of Statues of 

army, the first President of the Republic of Texas, gover- 
nor of the State of Texas, and a Senator from that State 
in the Senate of the United States. In all these posi- 
tions he filled them to the fullest measure of patriotic 
duty. The memory of his life, his character, and his 
services to our State constitutes the chief link in quite 
a long chain that binds together the hearts of all Ten- 
nesseeans and Texans in bonds of aflfection. 

Stephen F. Austin was also a man of very fine 
abilit}- and of spotless character. His father was a 
native of the State of Connecticut, emigrated to Virginia, 
and thence to Missouri. While a resident of that State 
he conceived the idea of securing colonial grants of 
land in the territory' now known as Texas, and this 
idea so possessed him that he undertook what in those 
times was a long and perilous journey in furtherance 
of this plan. He traveled to Texas, and in December of 
the year 1820 he reached Bexar. Here he discussed the 
purpose of his journey with Baron de Bastrop, whom he 
had previously known at New Orleans, and he was intro- 
duced to Governor Martinez, to whom he explained his 
desire. A memorial was drawn up, and, after approval 
by the local authorities, was forwarded to the commander 
of the northeastern internal provinces. This memorial 
asked for permission to colonize 300 families. This 
commandant-general, Don Joaquin Arredondo, then re- 
sided at Monterey, and the distance required considerable 
time for an answer to be returned. Austin, leaving the 
matter with the Baron de Bastrop to act as his agent, 



Sa7n Houston atid Stephen F. Austin 43 

set out on his return in January, 1821. He traveled 
back home, doubtless with bright hopes of the good 
fortune that awaited him and his posterity in this 
beautiful land through which he had journe^-ed. But 
it was not to be. By cold and exposure on this trip he 
sickened and died. h. few days before his death, how- 
ever, he received the welcome news of the approval of 
his application to plant a colony in Texas, and he died 
leaving both as a deathbed injunction and as a glorious 
inheritance as well to this son of his this enterprise 
which he had so successfully inaugurated. The son 
was seized with the same ardor which possessed the 
father, and he journeyed down to Texas and founded a 
colony under the first colonial charter by which white 
settlement was authoritatively made in Texas. This 
grant to found a colony in Texas bore date January 17, 
1 82 1, and it provided that the colonists should be Roman 
Catholics, or agree to become such before they entered 
Spanish territory; that they should furnish evidence of 
their good character and habits and take oath of fidelity 
to the King to defend the government and political 
constitution of the Spanish monarchy. 

From that time to the date of his death, with untiring 
zeal, with the loftiest patriotism, with the greatest con- 
servative ability, he labored to build up that territor}' in 
the best interest of all the colonists who flocked not onh" 
to his standard but to the standards of many others who 
followed in his wake. His wise counsel was ever a tow^er 
■of strength to the struggling colonists through all that 



44 Acceptance of Statues of 

stormy period which led to the establishment of the 

Texan Repnblic. Yoakum, who wrote one of the earliest 

and best histories of Texas, says of Austin: 

Although Austin's powers were almost absolute, he governed with 
parental mildness. His soul was absorbed in the great business of 
the successful completion of his enterprise. He was esteemed by 
each colonist, not so much as a ruler as a father and friend. By example 
and precept he inspired them with the love of order and industry. 

The same historian pays his memor}^ this beautiful 

tribute: 

If he who by conquest wins an empire and receives the world's 
applause, how much more is due to those who, by unceasing toil, lay in 
the wilderness the foundation for an infant colony, and build thereon a 
vigorous and happy State! Surely there is not among men a more hon- 
orable destin}^ than to be the peaceful founder and builder of a new 
empire. Such was that of the younger Austin. 

About these two men — Houston and Austin — cluster 
a series of events as remarkable as any recorded in the 
history of the world. 

These two great men are gone. If they could return 
now to the scene of their heroic action and behold the 
State which they founded and for which they fought, 
what joy would animate them ! Now they would behold 
a great State of the Union, inhabited by more than 
3,000,000 people, cultivating more acres of land than any 
State of the American Union ; the greatest agricultural 
and stock-raising State in this Union ; a State annually 
bringing into the channels of American commerce more 
gold from Europe than any other State ; a State whose 
population is more happily distributed than au}- other 
territory in the world ; a State whose internal government, 
whose low taxation, whose educational funds and institu- 
tions, whose administration of justice, are second to none. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 45 

And, standing in the proud present, thinking- of the glo- 
rious past, the contemplation of the future would stagger 
even these far-seeing intellects. For no human vision can 
foretell what the resistless sweep of civilization and prog- 
ress shall accomplish in the coming years in the State of 
the Lone Star, with a territory comprising so much fertile 
soil, of such various adaptability to all the forms of agri- 
culture possible on the Western Continent ; with a great 
Gulf coast iipon which mouths to the open sea are calling 
for the commerce of so vast an area to pour it out into 
the markets of the world, and which invite in return so 
much of imports to so large a section. When the Gulf 
of Mexico becomes, as it surely will, the Mediterranean of 
the Western Continent, and factories mingle with agricul- 
ture, a progress and a power will be ours far be}'ond our 
ken. Those of us who live there pray that our patriotism 
and that of our posterity may be equal to the discharge of 
all the great tasks that our great future will hold for us. 
May the spirit of our fathers fall with tender benediction 
and inspiring purpose upon us and our children fore\-er. 
Texas has not only a glorious but a unique historv. 
She comprises the onh- territor}- upon the surface of the 
globe which has a history that parallels in patriotic 
purpose, struggle, and achievement that of the thirteen 
colonies of America. Those thirteen colonies were peopled 
by lovers of libert}', who came from almost ever)' section 
of the Old World to find in the New a religious and civil 
liberty which they yearned for, but could not secure in 
the Old. Oppression and tyranny gradually followed them 
across the Atlantic, and laid the "mailed hand'' with 



46 Acceptance of Statues of 

ever-tightening grip npon them and their descendants. 
That spirit of liberty, which is immortal, was so widely dis- 
seminated among the colonists as that resistance to oppres- 
sion became the birth cry of revolntion. Those brave spirits, 
whose splendid capacity was often excelled by their unself- 
ish courage, formulated in the open, wrote and signed a 
bold, defiant declaration of their independence, and suc- 
cessfully achieved it by a war never excelled in privation 
and patriotism. They ordained a constitution for the 
preservation of that independence they had achieved and 
the conserv^ation of that liberty which they loved. They 
selected a flag typical of the Government which they 
thus established, and in its blue field they pinned thirteen 
stars, one for each State in the great Republic which they 
had organized. In that war they had their Lexington, 
which gave tongue to the revolution ; Saratoga, which 
brightened their hopes, and Yorktown, which brought 
assurance of success. They had their Bunker Hill, Mon- 
mouth, and Trenton, and the j^athetic privations of Valley 
Forge, where the soldiers of the Re\'olution verily trod 
the Valley of the Shadow of Death — all memorable in 
those glorious annals which record the struggles of patriots 
to secure liberty. 

Some years after, away down by the Gulf of Mexico, 
in as fair a land as ever was kissed by the rays of the 
sun, brave, adventurous spirits went to settle, to make 
homes for themselves and their children. From the ter- 
ritory of the great Middle West, from the shores of the 
Atlantic, from almost every State and Territory of the 
Union, they came to this fair land and settled in what 



Saj)i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 47 

is now known as Texas — what was then Mexican terri- 
tory. They settled originally under the fairest promises 
of just treatment by the parent Government with respect 
to all the rights which affected their life, their liberty, 
and their property. But here, too, the hand of t>Tanny 
was laid upon them, as had been the case with the thirteen 
colonies. The same love of liberty, the same reckless 
devotion to human rights, throbbed in the bosoms of these 
colonists that had been so potent among those of the thir- 
teen colonies. Revolution came here as the result. These 
colonists met in the open and they wrote a declaration of 
independence, and achieved it by a short, desperate, but 
decisive war. They ordained a constitution, they selected 
a flag typical of the Republic which they had founded. 
This flag had a blue field, wherein gleamed a lone star, 
which stood for the sovereignty of the Republic for which 
they had sacrificed so much. They had their Gonzales, 
where the first shot was fired in resistance to tyranny and 
lit a fire of freedom that could not be quenched ; their 
Alamo and Goliad. The desperate valor of the one and 
the merciless butchen- of the other made the glory of 
their San Jacinto possible, for they gave that battle cry 
" Remember the Alamo and Goliad " to Sam Houston's 
army — the most stirring, vengeful, animating war cry that 
ever fell from patriot warriors' lips since the dawn of 
history. 

As I believe, in the providence of God the time came 
when the people of the United States and the people of 
the Republic of Texas agreed to unite under one flag of 
the United States, and the Republic of Texas took its 



48 Acceptance of Statues of 

lone star from the flag of its republic and pinned it in 
the blue field with the stars of the States of the Union, 
to mingle with them in the same flag and under the same 
Constitution, in a common, glorious destiny. Ma}- the 
radiance of these stars light the liberty for which they 
stand to the remotest corners of the earth. May the . ♦ 
sweet lilies of peace, rooted in the blood of revolution 
shed for freedom's sake, exhale their fragrance in the 
hearts of men till the nations of the world shall catch 
step to that sacred song which in the long ago echoed 
over Judea's hills, " On earth peace, good wall toward 
men." [Loud applause.] 



Sam Houston mid StcpJioi F. Austin 49 



Address of Mr. Clark, of Missouri 

Mr. Speaker: I shall attempt no panegyric npon Texas 
or npon Texans. They need none. Even if they did, 
her Representatives here are amph' qnalified and always 
willing to sonnd her praises, which no tongne or pen 
can exhanst. The intense State pride which was erst- 
while characteristic in an extraordinary degree of Vir- 
ginians, Sonth Carolinians, and Massachusetts people is 
eclipsed by that of the citizens of the Lone Star State. 
Thev are fully justified in that laudable feeling, for 
State pride is patriotism. Here is a fine mot by Henry 
Ward Beecher: "When I see a man who has nothing to 
say of the place he came from, I want to know wdiat 
mean thing he did there.'' [Applause.] Most assuredly 
the great preacher would have had no occasion to com- 
plain of a Texan on that score, for he is as thoroughh- 
enamored of his State as is any }-outh of his sweetheart 
or any man of his wife. In his e^es she is perfection 
itself. His passion for her approximates idolatr}-. And 
who shall blame him for his towering pride in and his 
und\-ing affection for that mammoth Commonwealth? 
With a most glorious past, with a most prosperous present, 
Texas faces a future to which none but the greatest of 
the major prophets and the sublimest of the epic poets 
could do justice. It makes even a hard-headed, imimagi- 
native outside admirer and friend dizzy to contemplate 
H. Doc. 474, 58-3 4 



50 . Acceptance of Statues of 

by the eye of faith the Texas that is to be. [Applause.] 
So I reluctantly leave Texas to the Texans on this 
occasion, though no orator could desire a nobler theme. 

The law gives to each State the right to erect in 
Statuary Hall the statues of two, and only two, of her 
distinguished citizens ; but Fortune, generous to imperial 
Missouri in this as in all things else, has placed five 
of her illustrious sons in that goodly company. Missouri 
herself contributed statues of Col. Thomas Hart Benton 
and Gen. 'Francis Preston Blair. Illinois sent that of 
Gen. James Shields, a hero in two wars, who represented 
in the Senate of the United States Illinois, Minnesota, 
and IVIissouri — a record never equaled and perhaps never 
to be equaled. West Virginia is represented by Senator 
John E. Kenna, who was reared in Missouri. Now comes 
Texas the magnificent and brings still another Missourian, 
Stephen Fuller Austin, to stand forever as one of her 
chosen representatives in that group of renowned historic 
characters. As his companion in perpetual glory she 
dedicates Gen. Sam Houston, statesman, soldier, orator, 
"the liberator of Texas," than whom even good Sir 
Walter himself never drew a more fascinating, a more 
romantic, or a braver figure. [Applause.] 

The coming of Austin to join Benton, Blair, Shields, and 
Kenna suggests a thought not much enlarged upon in the 
books, but of vast importance, and that is that Missouri has 
been lavish of her children in building up the West, South- 
west, and Northwest. There is scarcely a city, town, ham- 
let, ranch, or mining camp, from the Mississippi to the 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 51 

Pacific and from the British line to the Gulf, in which the 
sentence "I am a Missourian" would not prove an "open 
sesame." There is not a trail beyond the " Father of Wa- 
ters" which has not been reddened with the blood of her 
sons in the triumphal progress of Caucasian civilization; 
and, contemplating the splendid States which she helped to 
plant in that rich wilderness, she rejoices in her sacrifices. 
If Virginia deserves the proud title of " Mother of Presi- 
dents," IMissouri may without arrogance lay claim to that 
of "The mother of States." [Applause.] 

In the entire range of profane literature there is nothing 
equal to Lord Bacon's essays. In the one on Honor and 
Reputation he says, inter alia: 

The true marshaling of the degrees of sovereign honor are these: In the 
first place are "conditores imperioruni," founders of states and common- 
wealths, such as were Romulus, Cyrus, Caesar, Ottoman, Ismael. 

If the father of the inductive philosophy were rewriting 
that essay in our day, he would undoubtedly add to the 
foregoing list of state builders our Revolutionary fathers 
and those indomitable men wdio laid broad and deep the 
foundations of Texas and who achieved her independence. 

There is no chapter in the annals of mankind more thrill- 
ing than the story of how Texans won their freedom. Dull 
must be the brain, cold must be the heart, of him who can 
think of the heroism at Goliad, at the Alamo, and at San 
Jacinto and not rejoice at being kindred in blood, in faith, 
in aspiration, and in the sacred love of liberty to the uncon- 
querable men who fought and bled and died upon those 
bloodv fields. From the g^round which thev immortalized 



52 Acceptance of Statues of 

and glorified by their sufferings and their valor Texas 
sprang full anned, as Minerv^a from the brain of Jove. So 
long as courage and fortitude are valued among men, so 
long as the hope of freedom endures, the names of HoUvS- 
TON, Austin, Bowie, Travis, Burleson, Mirabeau B. Lamar, 
Sidney Sherman, Deaf Smith, and Da\y Crockett will be 
cherished as household words. [Applause.] 

Stephen F. Austin, to whom Texas is this day paying 
a most unusual but well-deserved honor, was the son of 
Moses Austin, a pioneer in improved methods in lead 
smelting — a most important fact in our industrial and com- 
mercial history. The elder Austin has a better claim, per- 
haps, to be called the father of Texas than any other man 
who ever lived. 

Before going to Texas Stephen F. Austin was a mem- 
ber of the Missouri legislature, while his father was inter- 
ested in lead mining in Washington County, Mo. Later 
the younger Austin was a United States judge in Arkan- 
sas. At the dying request of his father he took up the 
work of colonization in Texas, which the elder Austin 
had begun. He took with him to the Brazos 300 Missouri 
families, among the foremost of the State. "It is a fact 
well authenticated that not a single member of Austin's 
colony was ever charged with theft or misdemeanor, nor 
did any of them ever occupy a felon's cell," a truth of 
which both Missouri and Texas may well be proud. 

President Roosevelt says, in his life of Benton, that 
when a thousand Missourians loaded their wives and chil- 
dren, their guns and household goods, together with the 



Sa»i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 53 

implements of husbandry, into their wag-ons, and marched 
with their flocks and herds to Oregon, settling there as per- 
manent residents, they determined at once and forever the 
ownership of the entire Oregon countr}-, which had been 
occupied jointly and quarreled over rancorouslv for many 
years by Great Britain and the United States. This re- 
mark applies with equal force to the mig-ration of xA.ustin 
and his little band of Missourians into Texas. What these 
two small companies of Missourians accomplished in Ore- 
gon and in Texas is likely to be repeated on a larger scale 
to the north of us, for the stream of our people now pour- 
ing into ^Manitoba will in all human probability in a few 
years Americanize all of Great Britain's North American 
possessions and make them constituent members of the 
great Republic — a consumation devoutedly to be wished. 

Old Ben Hardin, one of Kentucky's greatest characters 
and most skillful lawyers, was wont to say that "blood 
is thicker than water." So, when Texas threw off the 
Mexican }oke and began her war for independence, from 
no State did she receive more sympathy and more aid than 
from j\Iissouri. When our troubles were brewing with 
Mexico no men ever were more eager to fight than were 
the Missourians; when the call for volunteers was made 
thrice as many Missourians rushed to the standards as 
could be accepted; and, from the beginning of hostilities 
to the hour wdien our flag floated in triumph over Santa 
Ana's capitol, the}- fought with the traditional courage of 
their race. 

The cause which impelled the Missourians to participate 



54- Acceptance of Statues of 

so enthusiastically in that war was thus eloquently stated 
\)\ the late Senator George Graham Vest, in his brilliant 
oration on Thomas H. Benton: 

No man who ever existed in the public life of this country more com- 
pletely and apparently committed suicide than Thomas H. Benton. He 
knew as well or better than any other man what the prejudice and opin- 
ions of the people of Missouri were on the subject of slavery, and their 
sympathy with their brethren of the Southern vStates that had gone to 
Texas, thrown off the yoke, and established an independent vState. But 
more than this, he knew there was not a family in western Missouri that 
had not lost father, brother, husband, or son upon the vSanta Fe trail 
fighting those murderous savages who attacked every trapper and every 
caravan too small to resist them, and that the people of Missouri firmly 
believed that the Mexicans had incited the Indians to make these attacks. 
It was well known that the merchants of Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and 
Tamaulipas, and the other northern Mexican States objected to the trade 
between Missouri and New Mexico. It was extremely lucrative to these 
Mexican merchants to have a monopoly of the sale of goods to their own 
people, and whenever any of these murderous Indians were made pris- 
oners by the Missourians there were always found among them Mexicans 
dressed like the Indians, appealing to their passions and prejudices and 
leading them on to these terrible outrages. 

Geographical monuments are the most durable ever 
devised by the wit of man. Marble and granite will 
crumble into dust, portraits will fade awa}-, the corrod- 
ing touch of time will destroy brass or bronze, but great 
cities and counties will survive to remotest generations. 
Texas has been wise beyond her sisters in naming her 
cities and counties for her pioneer State builders. So 
lono- as the counties of Houston and Austin are on the 
map, so long as the ambitious cities of Houston and 
Austin lift their spires to heaven, the names of those 
twain will linger upon the tongues of men. 

The exceptional strength of the Texas delegation in 
both branches of Congress has long been noted by even 
casual observers. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 55 

It so happened that in the autumn of 1899 I partici- 
pated in a Democratic love feast at the State fair at 

Dallas. 

On the return trip one of my traveling companions 
was m)^ friend, Maj. Har\^e)- W. Salmon, of Missouri, 
who, by reason of his ser\ace in the Confederate army, 
of his commercial relations, and of his political activity, 
has a wide acquaintance in the Southwest. We fell to 
talking of the extraordinary number of Texans of a 
hio-h order of ability still in the prime of life, where- 
upon he gave this explanation of that pleasing fact. He 
said that originally Texas was settled b>- the ver>- cream 
of the human race from America and Europe, and that 
during the evil days of reconstruction conditions were so 
bad in the other southern States that thousands of the 
flower of southern youth immigrated to Texas, expecting 
to sojourn there only till the storm blew over, but once 
there they loved the State so well that they remained 
permanently, thereby contributing largely by their talents 
and their achievements to the wonderful development of 
all things Texan. ■ That was an explanation which 
explained. 

There is a reason for every human thought, word, and 
act, if we could only ascertain it. The reasons why I 
am speaking here to-day are these: The story of Texas 
has always appealed with irresistible force to my imagi- 
nation and to my heart. Texas and Missouri are bound 
together by geography, by communit>- of interest, and b>- 
ties of blood. According to the census of 1900, out of 



56 Acceptance of Statues of 

her population of 3,048,828 more than 56,000 were 
Missonrians born — that is, one out of every fiftv-fonr. 
Two out of four of my cousins on my mother's side are 
Texans by adoption. The Texans at home have wel- 
comed me with open arms when I have visited the State. 
Texans here have treated me almost as a kinsman ever 
since my advent in Washington. I shall alwavs count 
it among the richest blessings of my life that during my 
first service here Judge David Browning Culberson, one 
of the greatest men I ever knew [applause] — God bless 
him in his grave — was my immediate neighbor in the 
House. One of the best, truest, and most unselfish friends 
I ever had or ever expect to have is the lion-hearted young 
Texan, Joseph Weldon Bailey. [Applause.] 

Stephen F. Austin was a Missourian — one of the 
most distinguished of that splendid breed of men. In 
addition to all this Austin was an alumnus of Transyl- 
vania University, now Kentucky University, at which 
famous seat of learning I spent three of the happiest, most 
laborious, and -most profitable years of a busv life. The 
two most celebrated names on the roster of her students 
were those of Jefferson Davis and Stephen F. Austin. 
[Applause.] Frequently, when I can snatch a moment 
from this strenuous life, ni}- heart fondh- travels back 
over mountain, vale, and river to the days of my youth 
about Lexington. 

Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes, 

And fondl}' broods with miser care; 
Time but the impression deeper makes, 

As streams their channels deeper wear. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 57 

The intellectuality and scholarship of pioneers in creneral, 
and Texas pioneers in particular, have been much under- 
rated. Of course there were ignoramuses and unlettered 
boors among them, just as there were among the barons 
who forced Magna Charta from King John at RunuNinede. 
There were also among these western pioneers men of 
brains, of learning, and of manners which would have 
graced anv society in the world. 

M)' friend Robert L. Henry, of Texas, told me these 
interesting facts. He says that when, in 1859, Hon. A. W. 
Terrell, a Missourian, was district judge in Texas, and 
came to empanel a grand jury composed of sixteen mem- 
bers, he counted among them twelve college and university 
graduates. Colonel Terrell is a profound scholar, a brilliant 
orator, and has held many positions of honor and of trust. 
He was minister to Turkey during Cleveland's Administra- 
tion, and has mingled much with the great ; but it is 
doubtful if in any circle in which he has moved he ever 
came in contact with any group of men who were blessed 
with a higher average rate of education or native ability 
than that grand jury in the wilds of Texas in antebellum 
days. 

Mr. Henry also declares that after a thorough investiga- 
tion into the matter he is satisfied that the signers of the 
Texan declaration of independence were of the same high 
character as the signers of the American Declaration, 
endowed with equal mentality and educational equipment. 

I love to think of the bold and adventurous men who 
blazed the pathway of civilization across the continent to 



^8 , Acceptance of Staines of 

the shores of the peaceful ocean. They, and not the poli- 
ticians of this era, made this a world power. We owe them 
a debt of gratitude which we can never repay except by 
beinof model citizens. Thev had none of the ordinary 
incentives to high endeavor. They acted their parts in a 
rude age, upon an obscure stage, far from the teeming cen- 
ters of population and publicity, with no Boswell to follow 
at their heels to record their words, with no newspaper 
correspondents to blazon their deeds. No trumpet of fame 
sounded in their .ears, cheering them on in their onerous, 
hazardous, self-appointed task ; but they wrought nobly for 
their country and their kind. 

vStanding by the humble graves of western pioneers, I 
have often recalled the noble lines of Gray: 

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, 
If memory o'er their tomb no trophies raise, 

Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault, 
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. 

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; 

Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd, 
Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre. 

Some village Hampden that with dauntless breast 

The little tyrant of his fields withstood, 
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest. 

Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. 

Mr. Speaker, we are all proud of our several States, but 
prouder still to be citizens of this mighty Republic, built 
not for a day, but for all time, and destined under God to be 
the dominating influence of all the centuries yet to be. 

Four States are squarely in the race for first place in the 
rare and radiant sisterhood — New York, Illinois, Missouri, 



Sa))i Houston and StcpJicii F. Austin 59 

and Texas. All good Missourians hope that Missouri may 
win the greatly coveted prize ; but if it be decreed by fate, 
to whose mandates e\'en the haughtiest and most powerful 
must bow, that she shall be outstripped in this contest of 
glory, she will yield the palm of victory with more grace 
and less regret to the colossal Commonwealth which this 
day pays her highest tribute to Sam Houston and Ste- 
phen F. Austin than she would to any other, because 
Missouri feels that Texas is bone of her bone and flesh of 
her flesh. [Loud applause.] 



6o Acceptance of Statues of 



Address of Mr. Stephens, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker: The Texas legislature, in presenting the 
United States with the statues of her two most worthy 
citizens, had a very delicate task to perform. 

The lyone Star State has a perfect galaxy of gifted and 
patriotic sons to choose from; but a selection had to be 
made, and the people of Texas, without a dissenting voice 
so far as I know, have approved the wisdom of its legisla- 
ture in selecting Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston 
as the proper persons to represent her in the American 
Valhalla known as "Statuary Hall." 

Forty years ago Congress set apart and dedicated the old 
House of Representatives in this magnificent Capitol build- 
ing as a Statuary Hall, and each State legislature is per- 
mitted to select two of its citizens for this honor. 

While all true Texans thus delight to honor Houston 
and Austin, they do not forget their long list of brave and 
noble sons, many of whom sleep in unmarked or unknown 
graves. Of these silent slumberers it can only be said 
that— 

No slab of pallid marble, 

With white and ghostly head, 
Teils the wanderers of our vale 

The virtues of our dead. 

The wild flowers be their tombstone, 
And dewdrops pure and bright 
' Their epitaph the angels wrote 

In the stillness of the night. 



Sa7u Houston and Stcphe^i F. Ausiin 6i 

Mr. Speaker, Texas has a unique and strange history. 
The self-sacrificinor devotion and heroic deeds of her noble 
sons have been seldom equaled and never surpassed in the 
world's history. Their actions are the pride and the price- 
less heritage of every Texan. 

Cabeza De Vaca first visited Texas in 1528, and La Salle 
made the first settlement on the Lavaca River in February in 
1685, for the French, and named the fort St. Louis. This 
fort was destroyed by the Indians and La Salle was killed, 
and the remnant of his followers captured by the Spaniards. 

In 1 69 1 Governor Teran, governor of Coahuila and Texas, 
planted several settlements in Texas, but the)' were soon 
driven out by starvation and hostile Indians. 

In 1 714 Crozat, to whom Louis the Fourteenth, of 
France, g-ranted the territorv east of the Rio Grande, sent 
St. Dennis to the Rio Grande to take possession of Texas. 
In 1 717 this aroused the Spaniards and they established a 
number of missions in Texas, among which was the famous 
Alamo, at San Antonio. France continued to assert her 
claim to Texas, and in 1730 the Indians tried to drive out 
both French and Spaniards, but did not succeed. 

In 1762 France ceded Louisiana to Spain, and in 1800 
Spain re-ceded it to France. The sale by France of 
Louisiana to the United States made it necessary to define 
the boundaries between France and Spain, and in 1819 the 
Sabine River was agreed upon between the United States 
and Spain as the boundary. 

From 1 82 1 to 1834 colonists from the United States 
settled southeast Texas. The colony of Stephen F. 
Austin was the first and most important. It covered the 



62 Acceptance of Statues of 

lower Brazos and Colorado rivers, including the land where 
the city of Austin now stands. 

In 1830 the Mexican Congress prohibited further immi- 
gration from the United States, and in 1833 the people of 
Texas tried to secure from Santa Ana a separate State 
government but failed, and in 1835 Texas revolted. 

In 1836 (April 21) Gen. Sam Houston defeated the 
Mexican army at San Jacinto and captured Santa Ana. 
This victory, one of the decisive battles of history, ended 
the war and secured the independence of Texas. On March 
2, 1836, Texas declared her independence, and on Septem- 
ber 2, 1836, adopted a constitution and elected Houston 
President of the Republic, and Austin was chosen secre- 
tary of state. 

The electors at this election declared in favor of annexa- 
tion to the United States. 

The United States refused to annex Texas, because Presi- 
dent Van Buren declined the proposition on account of the 
slavery question. 

Again, in 1844, the antislavery sentiment prevented an- 
nexation. In 1845 President Polk secured its annexation, 
and the war with Mexico followed. In 1861 Texas seceded 
from the Union and joined the Southern Confederacy, and 
from June, 1865, to March, 1867, it was under a provisional 
government, and from that date until September, 1869, was 
under a military government, when it was restored to the 
Union. 

Mr. Speaker, this brief history shows that Texas had five 
separate and distinct governments, and gave allegiance to 
five separate flags in less than half a century. She was 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 63 

first under the Spanish flag, and so remained until Mexico 
rebelled against Spain and formed a separate government 
in 1824. Texas was from that time until 1836 under the 
Mexican flag, at which time she rebelled against Mexico 
and became a separate republic under the Lone Star flag. 

See! Just above th' horizon's farthest edge 

A lone star rises in the gloomy night; 
Dimly and tremblingly its rays are seen, 

Shining through cloud rifts or concealed from sight; 
Faintly it glimmers o'er the Alamo; 

Redly it gleams above Jacinto's field; 
Higher it rises — now, brave hearts, rejoice — 

'Tis fixed in beauty on heaven's azure shield. 

In 1845 she was annexed to the United States by a vote 
of her people and the consent of the Congresses of the two 
Republics. 

From 1845 to 1861 Texas was a part of the United 
States, and the Stars and Stripes became its flag by 
voluntary adoption. 

In 1 861 Texas seceded from the Union and joined the 
Confederate States government and substituted the Confed- 
erate stars and bars for Old Glory, and after the fall of the 
Confederacy Texas resiimed her place in the Union. Thus 
it is seen that the Spanish, the Mexican, the Texan 
Republic, the United States, and the Southern Confederate 
flags floated in rapid succession over the imperial domain 
of the Lone Star State. Mr. Speaker, it was in this history- 
making epoch that Houston and Austin lived and 
wrought so well for their adopted country. What State in 
the Union has a history so rich in great events and so 
fruitful of great results? What State can approach the 
Lone Star State in the heroism and dauntless courage of 



64 Acceptance of Statues of 

its pioneers, in the magnitude of its territor}-, the diversity 
and richness of its soil, the sahibrity of its climate, the 
diversification of its crops, the healthfulness of its inhab- 
itants, and its wonderful natural resources in timber, coal, 
iron, oil, and minerals? 

Mr. Speaker, for this imperial domain we owe Houston, 
Austin, and their compatriots a debt of gratitude never to 
be discharged. Let us contrast and compare the lives of 
these distinguished Texans. They were each born, in the 
year 1793 in the State of Virginia, Austin near Austin- 
ville, and Houston in Rockbridge County. 

Their fathers were veterans of the Revolutionary war. 
Houston's ancestors were of Scotch origin; Austin's were 
of the sturdy New England stock. Austin was a graduate 
of Transylvania University, while Houston was not a 
graduate, but in his youth he preferred chasing the deer 
with his Indian friends to engaging in the pursuit of 
knowledge in the schools. Houston, whose family had 
removed to Tennessee, was a sergeant in the war of 181 2, 
and was the best drilled officer in his regiment. He serv-ed 
under General Jackson in his campaign against the Creek 
Indians, and was dangerously wounded in the battle of 
Horse Shoe Bend, in Alabama. 

During these >ears Austin, whose father had removed to 
Missouri, was, when only 20 }'ears of age, elected to its 
Territorial legislature and served several terms, and greatly 
distiupfuished himself therein. 

Houston, on resigning from the Army, had studied law 
and began its practice at Lebanon, Tenn., and became a 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 65 

ver}' successful advocate. In 1823 ^^ "^^^ elected to 
Congress and served two terms; in 1827 ^^^ was elected 
governor of Tennessee, and in 1832 removed to Texas and 
made it his future home. 

In 182 1 Austin removed to Texas, and was the first 
American to plant an Anglo-Saxon colony in Texas. At 
that time the settlement at Nacogdoches was the only 
settlement between the Sabine and San Antonio. 

Austin's father, Moses Austin, had received a grant of 
land from Mexico for this colony, but died and left his son, 
Stephen F., to carr}^ out the project, and he proved 
himself equal to the emergency and planted a colony that 
remains to-day, thus proving anew the untiring energy and 
courage possessed by this sturd}- and determined man, as 
well as this further fact, well established by history, that 
when the Anglo-Saxon conquers a country and makes 
it his home, he keeps it. Texas had been claimed alter- 
nately for centuries by France and Spain; but it still 
remained for Austin and the Anglo-American colonist to 
conquer, civilize, hold, and Christianize this magnificent 
domain. In the year 1835 Austin was chosen to command 
the army of Texas, and he conducted a short but successful 
and brilliant campaign against the Mexicans at San 
Antonio, thus showing that he possessed militar\' genius of 
a high order. On November 28, 1835, he was appointed 
a commissioner to the United States for the purpose of 
securing funds to carry on the war. His mission was a 
delicate and difficult one. He secured many loans of 
money, and pledged his private fortune as security for 
H. Doc. 474, 58-3 5 



66 Acceptance of Statues of 

repayment, and while on this mission, at Louisville, Ky., 

he made an address in behalf of Texas, in which he said : 

In doing this [referring to the rebellion of Texas against Mexico] the 
first step is to show, as I trust I shall be able by a succinct statement of 
facts, that our cause is just and is the cause of light and liberty, the same 
holy cause for which our forefathers fought and bled; the same cause 
that has an advocate in the bosom of every freeman, no matter in what 
country or by what people it may be contended for. 

He did not return to Texas until after the battle of 
San Jacinto, but became a candidate that year for Presi- 
dent of the Republic of Texas. General Houston was 
his opponent and defeated him by a small majority. 

Under the new order of things Austin became the 
secretary of state and entered immediately upon his 
duties. A prime measure with the administration was to 
secure the annexation of Texas to the American Union. 
The people had almost unanimously approved that 
measure at the late election. One of the first acts of 
the secretary was to prepare instructions for the diplo- 
matic agents to be sent to Washington. He was a good 
part of three days, and portions of nights, engaged in 
this work. The accommodations for the Government at 
Columbia were very inadequate. The weather was cold, 
and iVuSTiN was compelled to write in a room without fire. 

The exposure in an unfinished and unfurnished room 
brought on a cold, which was succeeded by an attack of 
pneumonia, of which he died at the house of George B. 
McKinstry, in Columbia, December 27, 1836. The follow- 
ing order was immediately issued from the war 
department: 

The father of Texas is no more. The first pioneer of the wilderness 
has departed. STEPHEN F. Austin, secretary of state, expired this day 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 67 

at half-past 12 o'clock at Columbia. As a testimony of respect to his high 
standing, undeviating moral rectitude, and as a mark of the nation's 
gratitude for his untiring and invaluable services, all officers, civil and 
military, are requested to wear crape on the right arm for the space of 
thirty days. All officers commanding posts, garrisons, or detachments 
will, as soon as information is received of this melancholy event, cause 
twenty-three guns to be fired, with an interval of five minutes between 
each; and also have the garrison and regimental colors hung with black 
during the space of mourning for the illustrious dead. 
By order of the President: 

William vS. Fisher, Secretary of War. 

His remains were accompanied by President Houston 
and his cabinet, both houses of Congress, and other officers 
of the Government to the family burying ground at Peach 
Point, Brazoria County. 

Thus it appears that this pioneer and patriot died from 
exposure while endeavoring to secure the annexation of 
Texas to the American Union. 

He had sacrificed the best years of his life for his 
beloved Texas. He made a long and dangerous journey to 
Mexico for his people and was there cruelly imprisoned by 
Santa Ana for many months. 

He opposed taking up arms against Mexico as long as 
there was any hope of securing justice from that country; 
but when the struggle for liberty and independence could 
no longer be averted he did everything in his power to 
throw off the Mexican yoke and create the Lone Star 
Republic. 

He lived long enough to see Texas become an inde- 
pendent Republic. No blot ever rested on the name or 
character of this unselfish patriot, hero, and statesman. 
To no one more justly belongs the name of " the father of 
Texas " than to Stephen F. Austin, and it is well that 



68 Acceptance of Statues of 

the beautiful capital city in the greatest State in the 
greatest Government on earth should bear the name of 
Austin. 

Mr. Speaker, further comparing the lives and services of 
Houston and Austin, we find but few points of analogy 
in their providential work and character. Austin was the 
pioneer and colonizer, the Capt. John Smith, while Sam 
Houston was the Washington of Texas. They were the 
respective leaders of the citizen soldiers who conquered the 
Indians, Spaniards, and Mexicans then inhabiting Texas 
and brought into this Union its future empire State. For, 
Mr. Speaker, if I may indulge in prophecy, I would state 
that in my judgment Texas will during this century 
surpass every State in this Union in population, in wealth, 
and in material prosperity. Mr. Speaker, I have a deep 
personal pride in the heroic history of Texas. I was born 
within its borders. My parents and grandparents were 
among the men and women who founded and defended it. 
My maternal grandfather, James Truit, was a member of 
the Congress of the Lone Star Republic and served therein 
with Sam Houston, while my paternal grandfather, John 
Stephens, served with him under General Jackson in the 
war of 1 8x2 and in the Indian war that I have before 
alluded to. They were, therefore, his close personal and 
political friends. 

Mr. Speaker, Stephen F. Austin was the right man to 
lead and defend a colony in a new country, and there to 
organize society and found a State, while Houston was 
the brave and experienced soldier, the liberty-loving patriot 
and statesman, ever ready to fight the battles of liberty and 



Sam Honsto7i ajid Stephen F. Austin 69 

establish in an alien land, by revolution if needs be, the 
principles of the American Constitution. Houston has 
the matchless distinction of having been a governor, a Con- 
gressman, and an officer in the army of two republics, as 
well as the further distinction of having been the President 
of one Republic and a Senator in another. When the civil 
war broke out he was the governor of Texas, and when the 
State he had aided in founding seceded from the Union 
and joined the Southern Confederacy he refused to take the 
oath of allegiance to the new government and retired to 
private life. 

In a speech made at this time he became a true prophet. 
He said that his " misguided countrymen were then, in the 
madness of the hour, incapable of calmly comprehending 
the danger of the coming war. But when Texas and the 
sunny southland should be overrun with Federal soldiers, 
and the best blood of the South spilled on the battlefield, 
the negro slaves set free, martial law proclaimed in every 
Southern State, and all southern men disfranchised and the 
negroes given the ballot, then, and only then, would his 
fellow-citizens see that Sam Houston was right in oppos- 
ing secession and the war." Mr. Speaker, we know that 
this prophecy came true. But Providence, perhaps kindly, 
on July 26, 1863, removed this prophet and patriot from 
earthly scenes. He died while the civil war was raging on 
every hand and before the dark days of reconstruction, so 
well foretold by him, had actually come. 

Mr. Speaker, General Houston's retirement during the 
civil war was not a happy one. He looked upon secession 
as an accomplished fact; he viewed with inexpressible 



70 Acceptance of Statues of 

grief the war measures adopted by both contending armies; 
he feared that republican institutions would be superseded 
by two centralized despotisms in which the liberties of 
the people would be swept away; and the prospect sad- 
dened him. His last appearance before a public audience 
was in the city of Houston, on March i8, 1863, ^"^ i" 
the opening paragraph of his speech he said: 

Ladies and fellow-citizens: With feelings of pleasure and friendly 
greeting, I once again stand before this large assemblage, who, from their 
homes and daily toil, have come to greet once again the man who so often 
has known their kindness.and affections. I can feel that even yet I hold 
a place in their high regard. 

This manifestation is the highest compliment that can be paid to the 
citizen and patriot. 

As you have gathered here to listen to the sentiments of my heart, 
knowing that the days draw nigh unto me when all thoughts of ambition 
and worldly pride give place to the earnestness of age, I know you will 
bear with me while, with calmness and without the fervor and eloquence 
of youth, I express those sentiments which seem natural to my mind, in 
view of the condition of the country. 

I have been buffeted by the waves as I have been borne along time's 
ocean until shattered and worn I approach the narrow isthmus which 
divides it from the sea of eternity beyond. 

Ere I step forward to journey through the pilgrimage of death I would 
say that all my thoughts and hopes are with my country. 

If one impulse rises above another, it is for the happiness of these peo- 
ple. The welfare and glory of Texas will be the uppermost thought while 
the spark of life lingers in this breast. 

Mr. Speaker, it appears that these noble characters — 
Houston and Austin — whom we to-day delight to honor, 
when they finally found themselves standing on the \'erge 
of the dark river each spoke and thought of the future 
happiness, honor, and glory of Texas; and may we not 
indulge the fond hope that the}- now from a higher sphere, 
with clear and unclouded vision, delight in seeing a re- 
united country and in realizing that their beloved Texas 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 71 

is one of the brightest stars in the constellation of States 
in this the greatest Republic on earth? 

Mr. Speaker, the present occasion naturally suggests an 
inquiry into the plan and the purpose of Congress in estab- 
lishing the national Statuary Hall. The movement origi- 
nated in the act of July 2, 1864, which authorized the 
President — 

To invite each and all the States to provide and furnish statues, in mar- 
ble or bronze, not exceeding two in number for each State, of deceased 
persons who have been citizens thereof, and illustrious for their historic 
renown or from distinguished civic or military services, such as each State 
shall determine to be worthy of this national commemoration ; and when 
so furnished the same shall be placed in the old Hall of the House of 
Representatives, in the Capitol of the United States, which is hereby set 
apart, or so much thereof as may be necessary, as a national Statuary Hall, 
for the purposes herein indicated. 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. ]\Iorrill, in the Senate of the United 
States, on February 18, 1889, in his speech on the recep- 
tion of the statue of General Cass, speaking of Statuary 
Hall, said : 

We have much reason to believe that the grand old Hall will ere long be 
adorned by such notable figures possibly as would be that of Benton, from 
Missouri; Charles Carroll and William Wirt, of Maryland; Morton and 
Hendricks, of Indiana; Webster, from New Hampshire; Macon, from 
North Carolina; Clay, from Kentucky; Calhoun, from South Carolina; 
Cranford and Troup, from Georgia; AUSTIN and Sam Houston, from 
Texas; Madison and Patrick Henry, from Virginia. 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Morrill's wise selection of Austin and 
Houston for companionship with the great statesmen 
named by him, but accentuates the wisdom of the Texas 
legislature in afterwards confirming his choice. IVIr. 
Speaker, in conclusion, and as part of my remarks on 
this occasion, I will submit the following list of statues 
now in Statuary Hall, showing their names. States, and 
Congressional services. [Loud applause.] 



72 Acceptance of Statues of 

Statues in Statuary Hall, United States Capitol. 



statue. 


State. 


Congressional service. 


Roger Sherman 


Connecticut 


House of Representatives, 1791-1793. 


Jonathan Trumbull. . . 


do 


House of Representatives, First, Second, 
and Third; Senate, 1795-96. 




James Shields 




Senate, 1849-1855, Illinois; 1858-59, Minne- 
sota; 1871, Missouri. 








Senate, 1867-1877. 
Senate, 1873-1889. 
No service. 


John J. Ingalls 

John Winthrop 




Massachusetts . . . 




do 


Do. 




Mar3-land 

do 


Continental Congress. 

Senate, First Congress; resigned, 1792. 












Senate, 1845-1848. 

House of Representatives, Thirty-third. 
House of Representatives, Thirty-fifth to 
Thirty-eighth; Senate, 1871-1873. 






F P Blair 


do 








New Hampshire . 
do 


No ser\'ice. 




House of Representatives, Thirteenth, Four- 
teenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth; Sen- 
ate, 1827-1850. 






Richard Stockton 


New Jersej' 


No service. 




... .do 


Do. 


R. R. I.,ivingston 


New York 


Do. ' 




... do 


Do. 


James A. Garfield 


Ohio 


House of Representatives, Thirtieth to 
Forty-sixth; Senate, 1881. 




William Allen 


do 


House of Representatives, Thirty-sixth and 
Thirty-seventh; Senate, 1845-1848. 






Robert Fulton 


Pennsylvania .... 


No service. 


J. P. G. Muhlenberg. . 


do 


House of Representatives, First, Third, and 
Sixth. 




Nathanael Greene 


Rhode Island 


No service. 


Roger Williams 


do 


Do. 


Texas 


House of Representatives, 1823-1825; Senate, 
1846-1859. 






Stephen Austin 


do 


No service. 


Jacob Collamer 




House of Representatives, Tweiitv-eighth 
and Thirtieth. 






do 




John E. Kenna 


West Virginia 


House of Representatives, Forty-sixth, 
Forty-seventh, and Forty-eighth; Senate, 

1883-1893. 




do 




Pere Marquette 


Wisconsin 


Do. 


Frances E Willard . . . 




Do. 









The statues of Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, I,iucoln, Grant, and Baker of Ore- 
gon, were not presented by their States, and are not, therefore, included in the above 
list. 

The following are not represented in Statuary Hall: Alabama, Arkansas, CaHfornia, 
Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Washington, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, 
Minne.sota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Wyoming, North Carolina, North 
Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 73 



Address of Mr. Gibson, of Tennessee 

SAM HOUSTON, THE HERO, THE STATESMAN, AND THE 

PATRIOT. 

Mr. Speaker: Whenever and wherever there is an assem- 
blage of people to do homage to the name of Sam 
Houston, Tennessee enters her appearance and claims 
the right to tender her tribnte to his fame and deposit 
her wreath in his honor. Tennessee received Houston 
to her bosom while he was yet in his infancy and 
trained him up to manhood and bestowed her honors 
upon him, fitting him to perform the part of a star 
actor on that grand Texan stage where his audience was 
the whole world, and his triumphs established first an 
independent nation and afterwards added another star to 
the great American constellation and a new page of 
glory to the grand volume of human freedom. 

Houston was a soldier of soldiers. His father was a 
soldier and served in Morgan's brigade of riflemen 
during the Revolutionary war and continued in the 
Army as major after the close of the war and died while 
so serving. Tradition describes him as a man of large 
frame, commanding presence, indomitable courage, and a 
passion for military life. Sam Houston's mother also 
was of Roman mold, remarkable for her magnificent 
physique and distinguished for her impressive and digni- 
fied appearance, her great force of character, and her 
puritv and benevolence. 



74 Acceptance of Statues of 

With such parentage Sam Houston could not well 
have been otherwise than the great man he became. 
Removing from Virginia to Tennessee in 1806, when 13 
years old, with his widowed mother and her family, they 
settled in Blount County, near the Tennessee River, on 
the Cherokee frontier, and undertook to wrest a living 
from the wilderness. 

I will not undertake to recount his career in Tennes- 
see further than to state that while living in Tennessee 
he was elected district attorney, major-general. Member 
of Congress, and governor ; but I must not omit his 
record as a soldier in the Indian wars under General 
Jackson. In 181 3, when 20 years old, then living in 
my count}- of Blount, he enlisted in the Army, and was 
present the following )-ear at the battle of Tohopeka, 
or the Horseshoe bend, on the Tallapoosa River, in 
Alabama. HoUvSTOn's intrepidity in this great battle 
was such as to attract the attention of the whole country. 
Maj. L. P. Montgomery, another Tennesseean, was the 
first man to mount the high breastworks erected by the 
Indians and was at once shot dead. The next man to 
climb the breastworks was Sam Houston, and the next 
moment a barbed arrow pierced his thigh. Disregarding 
the wound, he leaped down among the Indians and beat 
them off until his men had time to climb over and join 
him. Notwithstanding this terrible wound he continued 
in the thickest of the battle until shot down by two 
bullet wounds in his right shoulder, when he was carried 
off the field and laid upon the ground to die. From 
these wounds he never fully recovered; the)- discharged 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 75 

more or less almost ever}- da}- imtil he died, forty-nine 
years afterwards, and his linen was wet with the dis- 
charge in the honr of his death. 

Houston was a born warrior, and when the sonnds 
of battle in Texas reached his ears he could not refrain 
from participation in the struggle there for independ- 
ence. He was at once put in command of the Texan 
army. A black cloud rested on the cause of the strug- 
gling patriots. David Crockett, also a Tennesseean, and 
his compatriots had all been killed in the Alamo while 
battling for the freedom of Texas, and Fannin and his 
army had been treacherousl}- massacred at Goliad after 
they had surrendered. 

THE STAR OF TEXAS. 

The star of Texas was a mere mirage, an unsteady ignis 
fatuus scintillating amid the exhalations and vapors arising 
from political commotions, more a dream of aspiring pa- 
triotism than a substantial reality, until Sam Houston's 
foot struck the soil of the struggling territory, and then its 
star rose visible and clear above the horizon; and when he 
was put in command of the Texan army that star rose still 
higher and shone with greater brilliancy and attracted 
o-reater attention; and when he turned that army's face 
toward the invading Mexicans that star, instinct with fate, 
blazed with a glorious effulgence prophetic of victory and 
empire; and when Houston and his heroic compatriots 
stood at nightfall victorious on the field of battle at the San 
Jacinto, that star rose majestically to the zenith, a luminary 
of resplendent magnificence, and Texas was forever free, 



76 Acceptance of Statties of 

the Alamo and Goliad had been avenged, and the lone star 
of Texas had become the star of empire. 

Texas was peopled by heroes. Down to the day she 
established her independence no coward had ever set foot 
upon her soil. The men who died fighting in the Alamo, 
the men who were slaughtered at Goliad, the men who 
faced the appalling perils of campaigning on the Texan 
frontiers, the men who triumphantly charged the Mexican 
army at San Jacinto, were as valiant and fearless as ever 
faced death on the field of battle, and their devotion to the 
cause of liberty as intense as ever inspired the hearts of 
patriot heroes since the days of Marathon and Thermopylae. 
And, Mr. Speaker, when in distant ages the sons of Texas 
shall assemble, as assemble they will, to do honor to Hous- 
ton and his heroic compatriots and commemorate their 
mighty triumph at San Jacinto, then wnll it be said of 
them, "There were giants in the earth in those days." 
[Applause.] 

HOUSTON'S STRENUOUS LIFE. 

Sam Houston led a strenuous life. Born and cradled 
in Virginia, he crossed the mountains with his strenuous 
widowed mother and settled in Tennessee when he was 15,. 
taught the "three R's" in a log schoolhouse when 18, 
enlisted in the Army when 20, campaigned against the 
Creek Indians and received three wounds in battle when 
21, was United States Indian agent when 24, made adju- 
tant-general of Tennessee when 25, a district attorney of 
Tennessee when 26, major-general of the State when 28 
Member of Congress from Tennessee when 30, and gov- 
ernor of Tennessee when 34. Soon afterwards he left 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin jj 

Tennessee, crossed the Mississippi River and joined the 
Cherokee Indians, whom he had known well in his boy- 
hood. Next we find him here in Washington fighting 
before Congress and the Departments in behalf of the 
Cherokee, exposing the frauds perpetrated against them, 
and denouncing in thundering tones and fiery words the 
perpetrators of these frauds, their aiders and abettors. As 
champion of the Cherokee and vindicator of their rights 
and avenger of their wrongs, he found himself encom- 
passed by unscrupulous adversaries, and in the struggle he 
waged, among other deeds of violence, he knocked down a 
Member of Congress, for which offense he was tried before 
the bar of the House of Representatives and fined $500, 
which fine President Jackson remitted, to the extravagant 
delight of his friends and the mortification and humiliation 
of his enemies. The next year Houston went to Texas, 
and in 1835 we find him commander in chief of the Texan 
army of independence; in 1836 we find him at the head of 
that army charging, like a god of war and as an a\'enger of 
the Texan heroes who died at Goliad and in the Alamo, 
upon Santa Ana and the Mexican invaders intrenched on 
the San Jacinto, and winning a victory, against great odds, 
so complete and so decisive that no second battle was neces- 
sary and the independence of Texas was won. In 1836 we 
find him president of the Republic of Texas; in 1846 we 
find Texas a State of the American Union and Sam Hous- 
ton its first Senator in the Senate of the United States; in 
1854 we find him pleading the cause of the Union before 
the American people; in 1861 we find him again back in 
Texas and again its governor, trying to stay the rising tide 



78 Acceptance of Statues of 

of secession, but trying in vain, and at last overwhelmed 
by the irresistible inundation. 

One continual struggle marked his career, and one con- 
tinual storm of abuse and vilification pitilessly assailed 
him, even when engaged in the noblest efforts to sustain 
the most righteous and patriotic causes. Envy wagged 
at him her spiteful tongue, calumny hurled at him her 
poisoned darts, political malice showered upon him its 
most fiery invectives and its most bitter vituperations. 

Fully and most bitterly did he realize that — 

He who ascends to mountain tops shall find 

The loftiest peaks most wrapped in clouds and snow; 

He who surpasses or subdues mankind 

Must look down on the hate of those below. 

HOUSTON'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

Having seen Houston while I was a boy, I feel con- 
strained to say that the marble statue of him we are this 
day accepting, while probably picturing him in his youth, 
does not do full justice to the magnificent physique he 
possessed when in after days he became the hero of two 
nations. Houston was a man of majestic proportions, 
and wherever he went never failed to impress all behold- 
ers with the conviction that he was one of the giants of 
the earth. His appearance is thus described by one who 
heard him speak at Galveston a few days before Texas 
joined the Confederacy : 

There he stood, an old man of 70 years, on a balcony 10 feet above the 
heads of the thousands assembled to hear him, where every eye could scan 
his magnificent form, 6 feet and 3 inches high, straight as an arrow, with 
deep-set and penetrating eyes looking out from heavy and thundering 
eyebrows, a high open forehead, with something of the infinite intellec- 
tual there, crowned with white locks partly erect, and a voice of the deep 
basso tone, which shook and commanded the soul of the hearer; added to 



S(7fn Houston afid Stephen F. Austin 79 

all this a powerful manner, made up of deliberation, self-possession, and 
restrained majesty of action, leaving the hearer impressed with the feeling 
that more of his power was hidden than revealed. 

HOUSTON THE COMPEER OF REGULUS AND WEBSTER. 

The picture of Regulus standing in chains before the 
Roman senate and counseling the senators against making 
peace with Carthage (he well knowing at the time that he 
was pronouncing his own doom), and his voluntary return 
to Carthage to submit to a most cruel death — this picture 
has from my early boyhood thrilled me with its heroic and 
patriotic sublimity. The picture of Daniel Webster stand- 
ing on the floor of the American Senate, bound by his oath 
to the Constitution, pleading for the passage of the bills 
necessitated by that Constitution in the interest of slavery, 
well knowing that he was pronouncing his political doom, 
but preferring his love for the Union to his love for his 
State — not that he loved his State less, but that he loved his 
country more — this act of political self-sacrifice has always 
in my eyes stood forth on the canvas of history as the sub- 
limest picture in the whole record of the American Senate. 

The picture of Sam Houston, governor of Texas, sit- 
ting in the gubernatorial office, whittling his pine stick, 
while the State convention in the hall over his head was 
calling upon him to come forward and take an oath of alle- 
giance to the Confederate States, and while the multitude 
were singing hosannas to the Confederate banner, Hous- 
ton refusing to notice the call, and thereby forfeiting the 
great office he held because of his overmastering love for 
the old Union, not that he loved Texas less, but that he 
loved Texas more as a State of the old Union than as a 



8o Acceptance of Statues of 

State of the new Confederacy — this pictnre of the old hero 
and statesman, suffering voluntary political martyrdom 
rather than forswear the country and flag; of his fathers, in 
whose defense he had shed his young blood and to the 
advancement of whose welfare he had devoted the best 
}'ears of a long, active, and glorious life — this picture of 
Sam Houston is well worthy to stand beside those 
of Regulus and Webster as grandly illustrative of the 
sublimity of heroic, self-sacrificing patriotism. 

HOUSTON A PROPHET OF PROGRESS. 

Houston had a prophetic eye; he foresaw the great- 
ness and glory of his country; he vigorously advocated 
the construction of a railroad from the Mississippi to the 
Pacific; his patriotic and prophetic spirit saw the great 
tide of American population and American civilization 
spreading over the prairies, over the plains, over the 
mountains, over the valleys to the shores of the Pacific, 
and from the Arctic Ocean to the Isthmus of Panama. 
Like his great commander and friend, Andrew Jackson, 
he believed in the " manifest destiny " of the American 
Republic and in " expanding the area of freedom." He 
dreamed of these tremendous events; he talked of them; 
he made speeches in advocac}- of them; he fought to 
promote them; he shed his blood in support of them, 
and he died praying that in the providence of God they 
might all be realized. 

The great crevasse in the levee of the Republic through 
which flowed, as with apparently irresistible force, the 
mighty tides of secession, inundating one-third of the 
Union, and sweeping over his own State, bearing down 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 8i 

all opposition from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and 
overwhelming the champions of the Union ever^'where 
except in the mountains, carried along on its foaming 
crest the grand old hero of Tohopeka and San Jacinto. 
Houston worshiped the Union with the devotion of a 
saint; but he worshiped Texas also. Texas was, as it were, 
his child. It was the scene of his greatest exploits. His 
valor and wisdom had made Texas an independent nation, 
and it was long his supreme ambition to see her a member 
of the glorious sisterhood of the United States. When the 
object of this ambition was consummated by the annexation 
of Texas, when he saw the lone star of Texas join, as 
though by divine power, the grand and glittering constel- 
lation of the American Union, and when he found himself 
a Senator from Texas in the Senate of the United States, 
in the company of Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, Thomas H. 
Benton, Lewis Cass, John J. Crittenden, Reverdy Johnson, 
Daniel S. Dickinson, and other illustrious statesmen, his 
happiness was complete, his most improbable dream had 
been substantiated, his most magnificent aspirations had 
been consummated, and he realized with a glow of patriotic 
gratitude, not unmixed with a justifiable pride, that he at 
last had received the full measure of compensation for all 
his labors and dangers, for all the blood he had shed on the 
fields of battle and all the agonies he had endured on the 
bed of suffering, thus demonstrating that in his case, at 
least, republics had not been ungrateful. The zenith of 
his greatness and his fame had been reached. The clock 
of destiny had sounded high noon in the career of Sam 
Houston. [Loud applause.] 

H. Doc. 474, 58-3 6 



82 Acceptance of Statues of 



Address of Mr. Field, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker: In the Memorial Hall of the Republic, in 
the silent assemblage of the nation's great ones, in sculp- 
tured marble, wearing the garb of the pioneers of the wilder- 
ness, typical of the age and time in which they lived, stand 
Stephen F. Austin, the father of Texas, and Sam Hous- 
ton, the right arm of the infant Republic, placed there 
by the wishes of 3,000,000 of happy, prosperous people, 
their beneficiaries, as evidence of their admiration and 
devotion, and as a declaration to all the world that these 
are the greatest of all of Texas's mighty dead. Their 
brave hearts no longer beat, their strong arms are rigid, 
their lips forever sealed ; and yet, eloquent in marble, they 
bring back to memory the most luminous and glorious 
pages in American history. But for the courage, the states- 
manship, and self-sacrificing devotion of Stephen F. 
Austin to the earh' colonists of Texas they would have 
been driven from the fair land to which he had led them, 
and Texas, like her sister Coahuila, would now be a State 
of the Mexican Republic ; and but for the wise counsel, 
the strong arm, and bright blade of Sam Houston at San 
Jacinto, the lone star of the infant Republic, dazzling in 
beauty as it was, woiild have faded from the galaxy of 
nations before it added new luster to the flag of our great 
Republic. 

These statues of Texas's greatest heroes, however, were 
not placed in the nation's Pantheon as reminders of their 



Sa)}i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 83 

heroic acts and deeds alone, bnt as the grandest types of 
the age and scenes in which they lived and moved and 
the most perfect exponents of the glory of the past — the 
heroic days of Texas. Far back in the remote ages of 
romance and chivalry the Spanish conqneror, with bloody 
sword, rifled the treasures of the Monteznmas, and in his 
eager march and search for gold faced the rising sun and 
crossed the great river of the north far into the plains 
of Texas, where since creation's dawn silence and peace 
had reigned ; and following close in the soldiers' wake 
came the devout, mysterious monk, to heal the wounds 
of war, to bear the Messiah's message and teach the arts 
of peace, whose monuments remain in those quaint mission 
castles from the Rio Grande to the Salado, and "whose 
dismantled ruins still keep the memory of those adven- 
turous days." 

Spanish oppression filled the land with grief for many 
hundred years until the pious priest Dolores raised the 
standard of revolt, proclaimed the magic word of libert}-, 
which, though crushed out many times, at last bore fruit, 
which now appears in the stable government be^'ond the 
Rio Grande. Texas for many hundred years remained 
the home of the wild beasts and the savage tribes of the 
plains, until Moses Austin, the father of Stephen F. 
Austin, obtained permission from the Mexican Govern- 
ment to locate 300 families as colonists in that vast 
wilderness. He viewed the land, but was not permitted 
to possess it ; but died, broken down by man\- hardships, 
leaving to his son, as his last injunction, to carry out 
his plans. How well he did it we need but look upon 



84 Acceptance of Statues of 

that great State, its fruitful fields, its prosperous people, 
growing cities, and unlimited resources, to realize. 

What was said of Epaminondas, as the greatest of the 
Greeks, could with truth be said of Stephen F. Austin, 
"A faithful portrait of his mind and heart would be his 
only eulogy." Stephen F. AUvSTin in January, 1822, 
established on the waters of the Brazos his first colony, 
the beginning of Anglo-American civilization in Texas, 
and from that time on to the close of his useful and 
eventful life to its development and extension he devoted 
all of his energy and great ability. He was the colonists' 
truest friend ; in all assemblies their most trusted co^^n- 
selor and their leader in battle, except when performing 
duties even of greater importance. When first the col- 
onists' rights were threatened by revolutionists in Mexico 
he journeyed to the Mexican capital, arriving there alone 
and a stranger, with no knowledge of the language or 
customs of the people. He displayed such ability and 
statesmanship that he not only secured additional priv- 
ileges for the colonists, but shaped the policy of the 
Mexican Go\'ernment and largely framed the Mexican 
constitution of 1824. And it is worthy of note, and 
evidences the devotion and loyalty of the colonists of 
Texas to constitutional government, that though this 
constitution ignored the inalienable rights of e\'ery 
English-speaking man — the right of habeas corpus and 
trial by jury — still Austin and his colonists, true to 
their compact, defended it against all the revolutions of 
Mexico, until Santa Ana declared himself military 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 85 

dictator, set aside the constitution of 1824, and subju- 
gated every State in Mexico except Texas, and was then 
marching with his hitherto invincible army upon the 
doomed city of San Antonio. Under the despotism of 
Santa Ana events were rapidly moving to a revolution 
in Texas. The blood of patriots had been shed, and the 
soil of Texas was thenceforth dedicated to liberty. 

Austin, hoping to avert the threatened revolution and 
ameliorate the intolerable oppression of the colonists, 
again journeyed alone and in disguise across the great 
plains to the City of Mexico; but despotism was then 
supreme. He was thrown into prison, and remained a 
captive for two and one-half years, a hostage of his peo- 
ple, which restrained action on the part of the Texans. 
Independence had not yet been declared, and all of the 
battles of 1835— Gonzalas, Conception, the Grass Fight, 
the storming of Bexar by old Ben Milam and his fol- 
lowers — were fought in defense of their rights under the 
constitution of 1824, and Travis and Bowie and Crockett 
and Bonham and all of the immortals at the Alamo "fell 
with the flag of the constitution of 1824 floating over 
their heads, when four days before, but unknown to them, 
the banner of a free republic — the Lone Star of Texas — 
had been unfurled on the banks of the Brazos." 

Santa Ana was marching on the Alamo; there was no 
longer a peace party in Texas. AuSTix and HOUSTON 
now advised for Texas independence, and were as enthu- 
siastic even as Archer (the Mirabeau of the revolution), 
the Whartons, and others of their followers; and on the 



86 Acceptance of Statues of 

ever memorable day of March 2, 1836, the declaration of 
independence was declared, and on the i6th the constitu- 
tion of the new republic was adopted. Texas was born 
in the midst of revolution and of peril, and soon the 
bloodiest chapters in the book of time were to be written 
and the most heroic acts performed in the history of the 
world. 

Did time permit me, I would like to speak at length 
of the battles and the heroes of the revolution; how old 
Ben Milam, to settle controversy, cut the Gordian knot 
b}- drawing a line upon the ground, stepping across, and 
calling, " Who will follow old Ben Milam? " and 300 
more, as brave as he, stepped across, and the storming of 
Bexar commenced. Five days and nights the assault 
went on, from house to house, through narrow streets 
and plazas broad. Old Milam fell, but Johnson onward 
led the charge until victory was won, and 500 Mexicans, 
with many dead behind, marched out with banners trail- 
ing, across the Rio Grande, and there remained no hostile 
foe in Texas. 

At the Alamo, liberty's purest shrine, the fruitful theme 
of eloquence, poetry, and song; how Travis and his im- 
mortals, conscious of their doom, sent the last message 
back that they would never surrender or retreat, and when 
surrender was demanded answered back with a cannon 
shot; how the "stillness of that Sabbath dawn was broken 
b\- the trumpet's blast, and ever}- band broke forth in the 
shrill and terrible strains of the deguello (da-gwal-yo), the 
music of merciless murder," and 10,000 Mexicans rushed 
on ; at last broke down the southern gate, and like a 



Satn Hoiisto7i ajid Stephen F. Austin 87 

stream long pent up, the murderous tide poured in. Brave 
Travis fell near the outer wall by his cannon, no longer 
useful ; Bowie, though sick, piled many a ghastly corpse 
around him ere he died ; and where the dead lay thickest 
old Davy Crockett fell. In thirty minutes 182 Texans fell, 
with gun in hand ; none escaped, and none in flight sought 
safety, but round them lay 500 of the foe. I would like to 
speak, too, of Goliad, of Fannin and his murdered martyrs, 
and then of Houston, of Burleson, and Lamar, and San 
Jacinto's field, where the twin sisters spoke in deadly 
chorus — where Goliad and the Alamo were avenged and 
Texas, in heroic battle, achieved her so\'ereign independ- 
ence. But these fruitful themes of eloquence I must leave 
to others, for want of time. 

Mr. President, Texas was not bought with gold, but by 
the blood of heroes won, and she is worth the price, every 
drop, as precious as it was. Look at the fair land — an 
empire in vast extent, reaching northward from the Gulf; 
700 miles from east to west, 900 north and south, as beauti- 
ful and productive as any part of earth. In the South 
and East, when the earth was new, with the profuse hand 
of nature was scattered abroad the seed of the pine tree, 
the cypress, and the oak, from whose great forests come 
the thousands of happy homes of the western settlers. 
Moving to the north rolls out those beautiful prairies 
where, in the dim distance, the verdure of the earth seems 
to mingle itself with the azure of the sk}- ; stretching far, 
far to the west those immense plains, where countless 
cattle roam, behind whose mountain barriers the setting 
sun descends ; and when the tide comes in at early night. 



88 Acceptance of Statues of 

the Gulf breeze unobstructed moves far to the north, 
bringing refreshing sleep to weary man and beast, and 
gentle showers quickening into life all nature's growth. 
Her fertile bosom would feed all the hungry of the nation, 
and clothe them, too, and give them shelter from the 
winter's storm. Deep down within her bosom she holds 
the treasures of her mines, and gas, and gushing oil, and, 
like a rich and prudent mother, gives them to her children 
from time to time as her treasures they explore; and huge 
granite mountains to build and beautify her future cities, 
too. In this fair land there is no place for any future 
State. There 3,000,000 people dwell ; in many things of 
different minds and views, each intent upon his own, in 
one thing only, in mind, in heart, in firm resolve, united 
that in the superstructure of that great State no contraction 
shall be made, but they will build as long and wide as are 
the foundations which their fathers laid and cemented with 
their blood, from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, from the 
Red River to the rolling Gulf. [Loud applause.] 



Sam Houston and Stephen F, Austin 89 



Address of Mr. Pinckney, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker: The great State of Texas chose well when 
she elected, out of all the noble sons who have helped 
spread glory npon the pages of her history, who have shed 
their blood and died npon her battlefields that she might 
live and attain her liberty, or who have distinguished 
themselves in the councils of the nation, the men for 
whom this hour is set apart to honor. 

I say she chose well when she selected to grace the 
halls of the nation's Capitol the statues of Stephen 
Fuller Austin, her first and most deserving love, and 
Sam Houston, her most renowned chieftain, the leader 
and commander of her armies in the days of her momen- 
tous struggle for liberty. 

These two men justly deserv^e that this honor should 
be conferred to their memory, because of the deeds they 
performed for her in the beginning of her life, that life 
which has grown so beautifully grand in so short a time. 

Eighty-three years ago the vast domain over which 
the lone star flag of Texas floats in fadeless glor}^, 
stretching from Red River to the Gulf and from the 
Sabine to the Rio Grande, was a wilderness inhabited 
only by savage tribes and over which in freedom roamed 
the wild horse and the buffalo. The plowshare was un- 
felt by her rich and alluvial soil, and the merry song and 
laughter of the plowboy broke not her lonely solitude. 



^o Acceptance of Statues of 

To-day all is bustle, a land of life, prosperity, and happi- 
ness. Thousands of homes stand upon her hillsides or 
nestle in her valleys. Her countless towns and cities, her 
waving fields of grain, her cotton, rice, and cane, all speak 
in thunderous tones of her matchless growth and energy. 
Austin found it in 182 1 a wilderness, broad and dense. 
Yet, in 1836, when he died, he left it a free and independent 
republic, acknowledged by the world, and ready to take her 
place in the catalogue of nations. His was the matchless 
mind and resistless energy that directed her hardy people 
and molded them for their high destiny, and when the 
people of to-day and those to come look upon the memorials 
to the nation's great they will gaze upon none grander or 
more worthy than Austin, the father of Texas. 

Who has accomplished more and brought forth greater 
results than did Austin in the forty-three years of his life ? 
Who ever sacrificed more for a cause and fought adversity 
more calmly or with a firmer determination than that which 
he began at the request of his father, who fiVst conceived 
the idea of founding a colony in the wilds of Texas? 

Stephen F. Austin was born in Wythe Count}-, Va., on 
the 3d day of November, 1793, his father being Moses 
Austin, a native of Connecticut, and his mother. Miss Mary 
Brown, of Philadelphia. When Stephen was 6 years of 
age his parents removed to Missouri, whence, at 11 years 
of ag-e, he was sent to Connecticut to school, where he 
remained three years. He then finished his education at 
Transylvania College, Kentucky. At 20 years of age he 
was a licensed lawyer and member of the legislature of 
the Territory of Missouri. At 27 he was a United States 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 91 

district judge for the Territory of Arkansas. He had 
gained the respect and confidence of noted men. He had 
attained high position in the service of his conntry. His 
prospects for glor)-, fame, and leadership, for a life of ease 
and prosperity, were all that he could wish, yet when the 
call of filial duty reached him there was no hesitation and 
no regret. 

The restless spirit of his father in 1820 had led him to 
seek and secure a grant of land in Texas and permission 
to make settlements, but before he could put his scheme 
into execution the hardships of the trip to the Mexican 
authorities, which he was compelled to undergo, proved 
too much for his endurance, and he died, leaving a request 
that his son should carry his plans into execution. With- 
out delay or protest, young Austin hastened to the seat of 
government and secured from the Mexican authorities a 
renewal to him of his father's grant, selected the lands 
between the Colorado and Brazos rivers for his colony, 
and on the ist day of January, 1822, landed his first settlers 
upon the banks of the Brazos and began the settlement 
and development of Texas. 

Soon others, inspired by his success, followed his example, 
and the solitude of the wilderness began to give slowly 
way before the sturd}- energy of the hardy natives of the 
young Republic lying to the north, who comprised the 
bulk of immigration to Texas, and where had been molded 
the principles of liberty which sustained them in the dark 
hours of their later struggles. 

The hardships of pioneer life are ever marked and many, 
but when to the vicissitudes of nature there are added the 



92 Acceptance of Statues of 

troubles of an unstable and sometimes oppressive govern- 
ment these hardships become much magnified and call for 
constant watchfulness and care. 

Mexico, which had but recently thrown off the Spanish 
yoke, was in a formative, even somewhat choatic state, 
and changes of administration were frequent. It thus 
happened that Austin, ever watchful of his colony's 
interest, was compelled, soon after his settlement was 
made, to visit the seat of government. Nothing daunted 
at the prospect, he traveled the 1,200 miles that intervened 
on horseback and alone. He stayed for twelve months at 
the capital, and by his tact and energy had all his grants 
renewed, his powers for good enlarged, and returned to his 
colony the representative of his Government and clothed 
with almost absolute authority. 

Then began that period when the wise exertion of his 
power as impresario of his colony and his judicious admin- 
istration of its public affairs endeared him to the hearts of 
his people and inspired them with boundless love and con- 
fidence, a love and confidence that remained unshaken to 
the end. His colony was made the model of all others 
that followed, and his leadership became the example and 
inspiration of every colony throughout the State. 

For a time everything went well. The colonists were 
gradually overcoming their initial hardships. The Mexi- 
can laws encouraged immigration, and settlement followed 
settlement in rapid succession. No foreboding of evil 
clouded the apparently brilliant prospects. But soon there 
came a change. Texas had for governmental purposes 
been attached to the neighboring State of Coahuila, but 



Sam Hoiisto7i atid Stephen F. Austin 93 

had been promised in the beginning that as soon as her 
population became sufficiently numerous she would have 
separate government. 

This arrangement soon became, for obvious reasons, 
very inconvenient and annoying to the colonists. Their 
general laws were written in a language foreign to them, 
and the seat of government 800 miles away, and reached 
only after weeks of travel and hardship. Her vote in 
the common council was only two, while Coahuila had 
ten, which brutal majority was often used to her sore 
disadvantage. This condition of affairs soon became so 
irritating to the minds of a people reared in the pure 
air of liberty and justice that efforts were made to obtain 
separation, but they were to no avail. Meanwhile the 
steady inpour of immigration from the North began to 
alarm the Mexican Government, which began to fear the 
results to itself from the infusion of the ideas of libert}', 
and laws were passed restraining further immigration, 
Mutterings of wrath became heard over the colonies, the 
demand for separation from Coahuila became urgent, and 
at last, in 1833, a convention was called at San Felipe 
de- Austin, the capital of Austin's colony, and a petition 
was formulated, setting forth the reasons for such sepa- 
ration, and asking relief of the Mexican Government. 
Austin was chosen to present the petition, and with a 
characteristic spirit of energy and self-sacrifice made prep- 
aration for the long and arduous journey to the capital. 
But there, also, had come a change. The spirit of the 
dictator, Santa Ana, ruled the nation, and his anger was 
aroused against the proud-spirited, tyrant-resisting people 



94 Acceptance of Statues of 

of Texas. Austin was thrown into prison and remained 
for two years, ever on occasion advocating the cause of 
his people and his adopted State. 

The thought of final separation from the mother 
country had not as yet permeated the brain of the Texas 
citizenship; but when the manner in which their petition 
and their representative had been received became known 
to them the mutterings of the coming storm became 
louder and more persistent. When, after two years of 
obstinate persistence in a policy of oppression, the dictator 
of Mexico realized at last the serious aspect of affairs 
and released Austin with many assurances of confidence 
and esteem and many promises of reforms, the wave of 
revolution had reached such height and momentum that 
it could not be calmed or stayed. Austin hastened home 
to prepare his people for the coming struggle. He told 
them that Santa Ana had usurped the supreme authority, 
had overridden all law, and was intent upon the destruc- 
tion of the colonies, and that the time for action in defense 
had come. The people rallied to the call. Austin was 
chosen commander in chief of the army, which was 
quickly organized, and under his direction were fought the 
battles of Gonzales and Concepcion — the Lexington and 
Concord of Texas — and the opening blows of the struggle 
which ended on the glorious field of San Jacinto. 

Soon a provisional government was organized and 
preparations for the struggle began to be made. Weak 
and isolated as they were, the colonists realized that in 
order to cope with their powerful adversary they must 
receive assistance, and the Macedonian cry went to the 



Sa)>i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 95 

people of the young giant republican Government to 
the north. Feeling that wise, tactful, and energetic 
representation could secure for them the much-needed 
assistance, all eyes in Texas were turned upon Austin 
to help them in their trying hour, and he was asked to 
go. Without hesitation or protest, but in the full reali- 
zation of his duty, Austin laid down the commission of 
commander in chief and departed upon his mission, and 
by his representations and efforts resulted the financial 
aid and volunteer assistance that made San Jacinto 
possible. 

And now, Mr. Speaker, upon the arena of action appears 
that other gigantic figure, which illumines the pages of 
early Texas history. 

Sam Houston, who divides with Stephen Austin the 
honors we would pay to-day to Texas heroes, was born in 
Rockbridge County, Va., in the year 1793, on a day made 
ever memorable by the Texas declaration of independence, 
the 2d day of March. It thus happens that grand old 
Virginia, the mother of heroes and statesmen, gave to 
Texas and to the world the two men Texas holds most 
dear and the memories of whose achievement will go 
down the ages. 

His father was a soldier of the Revolution, and his 
mother was Elizabeth Paxton. Her husband dying, Mrs. 
Houston removed to Tennessee when Sam was 13 years 
of age. He was a bold and headstrong boy, of an impe- 
rious will, and born to rule. He joined the army of the 
United States under Andrew Jackson, fought and was 
wounded at the battle of Horseshoe Bend, where, b^• his 



96 Acceptance of Statues of 

daring and gallantry upon the field, he won promotion 
and the lasting friendship of his great chief. 

At the age of 30 he was in the Congress of the United 
States, and in 1827 was elected governor of Tennessee. 
This office he soon resigned and went to live with a tribe 
of Indians whose friendship he had gained when he was 
a boy, and in 1832 came to Texas and cast his lot with 
the colonists of that province, where his wise counsel and 
military training soon brought him into prominence. 

When, therefore, the resignation of Austin necessitated 
the choice of another commander in chief, all eyes were 
turned to HOUSTON, and he was unanimously chosen to 
ser\'e. Accepting the position, he at once set about to 
organize his forces and get them in hand. 

Meanwhile events were fast transpiring in the histor}- of 
the province. Santa Ana had suddenly appeared before 
San Antonio, the principal town of the province, and after 
a brief siege carried the Alamo by storm and put its garri- 
son to the sword. Its glorious defense is without a parallel 
in history, and the names of Crockett, Travis, Bonham, 
and Bowie, who there suffered heroic martyrdom and 
placed their lives as a willing sacrifice upon their country's 
altar, are emblazoned in undying characters in the halls of 
the world's heroic dead. 

Fannin had fallen at Goliad, and his little band of 
patriots had been ruthlessly massacred, and the victorious 
army of the conqueror was sweeping in three divisions 
toward the Sabine boundary. Terror and consternation 
seized upon all. It took strategy and generalship to meet 
the forces that were now being hurled against the devoted 



Sa))i Houston and StcpJien F. Austin 97 

patriots of Texas. Sam Houston, stern, rugged, and 
brave, was the one man equal to the occasion. Feeling his 
little force to be too weak to meet the enemy, he retired, 
vigilant and grim, before it, ever watchful to turn and 
strike when the opportunity presented. Santa Ana 
marched to San Felipe; Houston diverged to the left 
and traveled up the Brazos. 

Santa x-Vna, with the main body of his army, crossed that 
stream and threw himself between Houston and the seat 
of government, but Houston remained firm and the 
governinent moved. He was molding his army into that 
resistless machine which later was to cover itself with 
fadeless glory on the memorable field of San Jacinto. The 
Alamo had fallen on the 6th of March, 1836, and Fannin 
had been massacred a few days later, yet by the 21st of 
April Houston, by his resistless energy and generalship, 
had so inspired his countrymen that there had rallied to 
him an army of 800 men whom he had molded into a 
machine and inspired with a deathless zeal in the service 
of his country. He had so maneuvered that army as to 
lure his foe away from his support, and they were at last 
face to face upon a battleground of Houston's own 
choosing. 

Let me quote you, Mr. Speaker, the language of Hon. 
Guy M. Bryan, a nephew of Stephen F. x\ustin, and 
himself a soldier of the republic, delivered before the Texas 
veterans. May, 1873, ^^^ description of this battle: 

I need not tell you of that glorious onset and rout of the enemy. 

Texans would have won that battle had the whole Mexican army been 

there, instead of the sixteen hundred they killed, wounded, or captured. 

Under the thrilling cries of "Remember the Alamo!" "Remember 

H. Doc. 474, 58-3 7 



^8 Acceptance of Statues of 

Goliad!" with the conviction of success, with the high-souled determina- 
tion and enthusiastic energy inspired by the past, a full knowledge of the 
awful responsibility of the present, with the cries of fleeing wives and 
children sounding in their ears, with bated breath and pallid cheeks they 
sprang forward to the charge to conquer or to die. 

What Waterloo was to Napoleon was San Jacinto to Santa Ana. What 
Bannockburn was to Scotland was San Jacinto to Texas. 

On that glorious day all that Austin had planned and 
worked for was accomplished. Sam Houston had proven 
himself a matchless leader. At the close of that fated day 
a new era had opened for Texas and a new star had risen 
in the firmament of nations. The army of Santa Ana had 
been routed, and Sam Housto^ had won. 

Mr. Speaker, I have tried in a brief way to touch upon 
some of the reasons why upon these two men fell the 
unanimous choice of the people of Texas when it came 
to select its representatives in Statuar)- Hall of the nation's 
Capitol. The allusions must of necessity be brief and the 
descriptions meager. The knightly figure of Austin pre- 
sents itself at every turn of the earl)- pages of Texas 
history. His was the mind and energy that molded and 
guided its early growth, and the impress of his mind and 
thought is found in the principles of its early government; 
and the influence of his kindly spirit, his farseeing grasp 
of the possibilities of the future are shown in the great 
and lasting institutions that have arisen in the country 
that he founded. He did not live to see the complete 
fulfillment of all his hopes and aspirations, but he died in 
• the full knowledge that he had founded an empire whose 
glorious history and mighty achievement were to call forth 
the plaudits and challenge the admiration of the world. 
He died in 1836, shortly after the establishment of the 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 99 

new government, full of glory, and in the full confidence 
and love of his people. 

He died, and yet he lives in undiminishing glory. For 
him and in his honor is the capital named, and for him and 
in his honor is named the county in which the historic 
town of San Felipe, his seat of government, is situated. 
His memory is graved upon tablets of stone and in the 
hearts of his countrymen. He lives and lives forever. 

He will live upon the lips of children, 

Live in manhood's deepest prime; 
In the high, pure heart of woman, 

Fadeless in his deeds sublime. 

Houston lived to reap the full, rich reward of his 
matchless genius. Ever full of that rugged manhood and 
tireless energy that enabled him to mold and shape his 
little army for its heroic struggle, wise and conservative in 
all things, he was the one man to take up the work of 
Austin and carry it forward to the end. 

And Texas honored him with her confidence and her 
love. She made him the first President when she became 
a Republic, and she elected him again to the same 
position. She elected him as her governor when she 
joined the galaxy of States in our great Republic, and she 
sent him as her Senator in the nation's council, to watch 
and work for her welfare. Even when, under the gather- 
ing clouds of civil war, the stern Roman-like principles of 
his nature caused him to take a stand at variance with his 
people, he was allowed to retire to the shades of private 
life, his name unsullied, and the memory of his heroic 
greatness remained a heritage to his countr}-. Full of 
vears and honors, at his home in Huntsville he laid aside 



lOO Acceptance of Statues of 

the cares of the world, and "soothed and sustained by an 
unfaltering trust, wrapped the drapery of his couch about 
him and lay down to pleasant dreams." 

x\s in the case of Austin, so in the case of Houston 
Texas has sought to honor him in no uncertain way. 
The city of Houston, named in his honor, is the metrop- 
olis of our Lone Star State. The county of Houston is 
princely in its extent and progressive in its development. 
Sam Houston Normal Institute, for the education of the 
State's teachers, stands the peer of any institution of its 
kind in the country. 

Thus has Texas sought to honor her heroic dead. 
And she comes now to-day to offer another testimonial 
of her love and reverence in the form of the beautiful 
statues which are to-day presented to the National Gov- 
ernment. And it is with pardonable pride that I say to- 
day, Mr, Speaker, that these are not ordinary works of art. 
They are the artistic creations of one in whose veins flows 
the proud blood of a marshal of France, and who could, 
if she would, show proofs of as proud a lineage as ever 
held itself before the pages of European history. She 
is a citizen of our Lone Star State, and Texas is proud 
to own her. She has brought fame to herself and honor 
to her State, and these two creations will ever stand as 
deathless monuments to her artistic power. 

And now, Mr. Speaker, in the name of Texas we 
deliver into your charge and into the nation's care the 
statues of our great and honored dead — Austin, the 
father of his country, and Houston, the hero of San 
Jacinto. [Loud applause.] 



Sam Houston and Stephe7i F. Austin loi 



Address of Mr. Wallace, of Arkansas 

Mr. Speaker: We to-day formally accept from the 
State of Texas the statues of Stephen F. Austin and 
Sam Houston, epoch makers in the history of the 
country. On his departure from Tennessee, under the 
shadow of a great sorrow, Houston dwelled with the 
Indians for a season in Arkansas Territory. Moses Aus- 
tin traversed the same with chain and compass, Stephen, 
his son, following in his footsteps and sharing his hard- 
ships. Later he exercised the functions of judge. A 
town in my State, not so pretentious as the capital of 
Texas, likewise bears the name of Austin. So Arkansas 
may share with Virginia and Tennessee and Texas 
something of homage and kinship with these names — 
names not born to die. Of Houston it is said he " was 
the most imposing in personal appearance in all Texas. 
His eagle eye read men at a glance. His majestic per- 
sonality enabled him to control the excited masses at 
critical periods when no other man could. His penetrat- 
ing vision grasped the whole of Texas — her resources 
and capabilities of the present and future — a grasp that 
was only relaxed by death." And of Austin, "that he 
had more culture and possessed a more refined and loftier 
spiritual image." Wars and treaties and history I shall 
leave largely to the historian and those inclined to thread 
the narrative here. L'^pon the brow of Houston, with 



I02 Acceptance of Statues of 

his stern virtues and diversified occupations, I shall attempt 
to wreathe the laurel leaf. In private life he was gentle, 
chivalric, and courtly. In Texas he wore huckskin 
breeches and a Mexican blanket, which tempted General 
Jackson to remark: "There is one man, at least, in Texas 
of whom God Almighty, and not the tailor, had the 
making." [Laughter.] With personal courage that never 
failed him, with humanity that never sought innocent 
blood, with honor unsullied by successes or reverses, he 
began and ended his life a benefactor of his race. 

Houston was admitted to the bar on one-third the time 
prescribed by his preceptor. Soon he came to practice at 
the Nashville bar, which was conspicuous for talent and 
forensic power. So many duties, civic and military, 
crowded into his life that he abandoned his profession too 
early, perhaps, to be accredited a great lawyer, but not 
before he had achieved wide distinction and phenomenal 
success. Mastering the details of complicated cases, he 
was strong in their presentation to court and jury. His 
powers of analysis and penetration, supplemented by his 
rare gifts of speech, made him a " foeman worthy the steel 
of all comers " — the Achilles of some vanquished Hector in 
almost every legal battle. He comprehended the science, 
acted out the great principles of the law. He depended on 
no "cork sinker" of the jury panel for success; despised 
mean advantage and petty jealousies among associates at 
the bar. His relations toward his professional brothers 
were open and manly. His bearing before the court and 
jur\- was dignified and courtly. He descended not to low 
r.buse, but was unsparing in his arraignment of a false 



Sa»i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 103 

witness. Around him he invoked all the ghostly horrors 
that broke the sleeping hours of the " false and perjured 
Clarence." Superb lawyer and brilliant advocate in all the 
service that made him perhaps the unchallenged promise 
of the Tennessee bar, it can not be said he ever — 

Crooked the pregnant hinges of the knee, 
That thrift might follow fawning. 

Houston had no early military training, save that 
gained bv experience among the Indians and heroic dis- 
cipline under General Jackson — his antetype and his model. 
When he first enlisted his friends rebuked him. But it was 
no part of his nature to abandon the course upon which he 
had determined, and his answer was: " You don't know me 
now, but you shall hear of me." But his mother said: 
" My son, take this musket; never disgrace it, for I would 
rather all my sons should fill one honorable grave than 
turn a single back to the foe. My cabin door is open to 
brave men, but eternally shut against cowards." Words 
worthy the Greek matron, as paraphrased by Montgomery: 

Then said the mother to her son, 
And pointed to his shield, 
" Come with it, when the battle's done. 
Or on it, from the field." 

Oh, a mother's courage, a mother's love ! She stumbles 
not where man falls; falters not where man fails, and over 
the wreck of his earthly ambitions and the night of his 
earthly woes shines as a beacon of destiny, a star of inspi- 
ration and hope. Who shall doubt that the memory of 
that voice haunted him from the moment he was stricken 
with wounds almost mortal at Tohopeka until, at San 



I04 Acceptance of Statues of 

Jacinto, immortality crowned him her own? One said of 
him that he always slept with one eye open. He said that 
while the policy of warfare with his associates — Fanin, 
Bowie, and Crockett — was to divide, advance, and con- 
quer, his own was to concentrate, retreat, and conquer. 

He was not unlike the later Jackson. Mysterious, 
incomprehensible to his foes, he w^on advantage at a 
move, victory at a blow. Sword and prayer were his 
weapons, and he mingled them with the lurid lightings 
that played upon the battle cloud and thundered in the 
storm of war. Those who may have followed closely his 
career — first living in peace with, then battling against, 
and again dwelling in exile with the red man — must 
look with wonder on this strange, unfathomable char- 
acter — romantic as it was daring, weird as it was bold, 
admirable as it was unconquerable! But here I must 
take refuge in the lines of the poet, who said : 

Nature ne'er meant her secrets to be found, 
And man's a riddle which man can't expound. 

With opportunity at hand, had he made law alone his 
j^rofession, he could have been a Choate or a Grundy. Had 
he made oratory alone his profession, he could have been 
a Wise or a Clay. Had he made war alone his business, 
he could have been a Washington or a Jackson. Had he 
made statecraft alone his business, he could have been 
an Adams or a Madison. But whatever doubt may exist of 
his ability to have equaled any of these, one thing is 
certain, that in the multiplied stations of honor and 
endurance he bore, in the successes and victories he won, 
not one of these men could ever have been Sam Houston. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 105 

Well may history rest his fame at San Jacinto. There 
culminated the struggle which divested Texas of a hostile 
foe, detained Santa Ana as a hostage for peace and 
independence, builded a republic and immortalized its 
builder. The more remote but not less important se- 
quence was the annexation of Texas to the American 
Union. The Stars and Stripes floated over the halls of 
the Montezumas and the domain of our Republic was 
augmented by concessions of territory stretching away 
to the Rio Grande and Pacific, and Mexico, then a 
mockery of civil government, was constructed into a 
modern republic, welcomed to the family of nations, 
and honored by all the powers of the earth. A blue 
shaft rising in broad stretches of magnificent environ- 
ment at San Jacinto and speaking through its granite 
silence the people's love for their patriot son may lose 
its majesty and its strength, but the name wrought deep 
in its polished shaft, but deeper wrought in the hearts 
and consciences of men, shall endure until God's hand 
shall rend the firmament and God's voice shall rock the 
earth and in the tumult of dissolving nature time's last 
revolution " breaks on eternity's wave." [Applause.] 

Austin's idea, which prevailed for a time, was to 
establish a local state government under the Mexican 
constitution of 1824. Houston's idea was to establish 
a republic or a state absolutely independent and defiant 
of the Central Mexican government, with the ultimate 
object of annexation to the United States. The Republic 
was established and modeled after our form of govern- 
ment. Houston was the first President. He found 



io6 Acceptance of Statues of 

the young Republic pledged to the pa^-ment of a debt 
of $3,000,000. His administration fixed its eyes first on 
land robbers. Then a small impost duty was imposed, 
an ad valorem tax levied, and land scrip issued and 
put upon the market for sale. He kept peace with the 
enemies of the Republic, and started it well on the way 
to a high and noble destiny. He was succeeded b}- 
Mirabeau Lamar, whose first official declaration was that 
the " sword should mark the boundaries of the Repub- 
lic;" which at once incurred the hostility of Mexicans 
and Indians alike. 

At the close of his administration the public debt had 
increased from three to eight millions, and Texas had a 
population of only 55,000. The popular will cried out for 
Houston, and he again became president. He at once 
inaugurated administrative reforms to correct existing 
abuses, and at the end of his term in 1844 saw his Republic 
at peace with Mexico and the Indian tribes and a "cash 
balance" in her treasury. As a statesman there was noth- 
ing- of the iconoclast in his nature. On the contrar^^ he 
was of the type of creative, constructive publicists. If 
Austin laid the corner stone,* Houston erected the super- 
structure and fashioned into splendid proportions this mag- 
nificent structure of a Republic and a State. He laid his 
impress there, and Texas will go down the years as the 
superb embodiment of his martial spirit, the composite ideal 
of his statesmanship, and the fairest gem of his handiwork. 
[Applause.] 
Efforts on the part of Houston and others to annex 



Sa))i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 107 

Texas to the United States were thrice denied by this coun- 
try. As a diplomat, Houston paid court to France and 
England, and otherwise exerted his subtle and powerful 
influence to stimulate the jealousy of this country against 
any European nation that designed a foothold in the West- 
ern Hemisphere. Soon James K. Polk and the Democratic 
part}' espoused the cause of annexation and triumphed at 
the polls. Strange enough, when the final steps were taken 
in 1845 to annex Texas. Houston seemed to oppose or 
take no part in it. For this he was abused and denounced 
by his friends. In response to the matter of paying court 
to France and England, afterwards in a speech he illus- 
trated his position as follows: "Suppose," said he, "a 
charming lady has two suitors. One of them, she is in- 
clined to believe, would make the better husband, but is a 
little slow to make interesting propositions. Don't you 
think, if she were a skillful practitioner at Cupid's court, 
she would pretend that she loved the other ' feller ' the best 
and be sure that her favorite would know it ? If ladies are 
justified in making use of coquetry- in securing their annex- 
ation to good and agreeable husbands, you must excuse me 
for making use of the same means to annex Texas to the 
United States." Annexation was the ambition, the passion 
of his life. His great heart beat with unspeakable emotion 
when he looked upon the " lone star " of his Republic 
gleaming in the noble group that formed the coats of arms 
of the States of this Union. But alas for the mutability 
of human success. The blight of war came in 1861, and 
hearing the signal guns proclaim the withdrawal of Texas 



io8 Acceptance of Statues of 

from the Union, he exclaimed, "My heart is broken ; " and 
those who knew him best record that Houston was never 
himself again. [Applanse.] 

But, Mr. Speaker, Texas has men to-day, if not still tar- 
rying in the flesh, who might pose in marble with the group 
of immortals in Statuary Hall. There is Reagan, at the 
head of a numerous list. With her vast stretches of prai- 
rie, buoyancy of life and luxuriant landscape, fields of grain 
and shrines of memories, one can but exclaim "Great is 
Texas ! " But greater than Texas are her men, and greater 
than her men are the noble women of Texas. At every 
point of struggle and hour of trial the "Daughters of the 
Republic of Texas," though called not b}- the sterner name 
of hero, filled the measure of all that heroes were, all that 
heroes mean. Watchers in the night of war, toilers in the 
day of hope, dauntless soldiers in the arm)^ of home, they 
prayed with words of fire, loved with hearts of gold. At 
tidings good, tears of jo}- danced in laughing eyes; at tid- 
ings ill, tears of sorrow like molten fire streamed down pale 
and withered cheek. And what magic, what miracles 
wrought by these tears upon fathers and sons in the bloody 
charge, in the battle's storm. [Applause.] 

As the astronomer takes the level of the sea to measure 
all important heights and depths, so must we take the plane 
upon which men move to measure the influence of their 
lives upon human kind. A giant gloried in the strength 
of his own great arm and was slain by the shepherd youth. 
Byron dazzled the world with his genius, o\'ershadowed 
Walter Scott as poet, and put him to the task of giving the 
world among the richest of its types of romance. But who 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 109 

is prepared to say mankind gained more in the birth than 
in the death of Byron? 

Newton monnted to the stars and saw the forces that 
bound all nature in harmony and system. In it he saw 
the hand of the Creator, and blessed mankind by his living-. 
Sam Houston, a decade before his death, listened to a dis- 
course from the text, "Better is he that ruleth his spirit 
than he who taketh a city." It soon "fastened conviction" 
upon him, and he lived a Christian; died not only as a 
philosopher, but almost like a god. [Applause.] 

Mr. Speaker, I have seen part of a summer's sky over- 
cast with cloud and the gentle showers fall and the rain- 
drops sparkle as so many diamonds on tree and shrub and 
flower, and I believed it beautiful. I have fancied myriad 
forms in the strange phenomena of the heavens, and believed 
it o-rand. I have looked on the mellow glow of sunset and 
believed it challenged the utmost stretch of my fancy for 
the beautiful; but the most charming picture, perhaps,, that 
may challenge the imagination is a shaft of light spanning 
from the effigies of earth to heaven, and human souls, 
loosed from their mortal environment, ascending that shaft 
to the God who gave them. 

Let this be the vision we have of the great souls, now, 
perhaps, not less the idols of their eternal than erstwhile of 
their earthly homes. Let it be they abide in peace by the 
fountain of living waters, and where the skies bend soft- 
est and the flowers bloom eternal. Noble and cultured 
Austin ! Great and picturesque Houston ! By the work 
of this day we but recall the magic of thy genius, but 
review the pioneer pageant of thy march from cradle to 



no Acceptance of Statues of 

grave. It has not been left for ns to add one ciibit to stat- 
nres, like gods descended, stood in the councils, moved the 
hearts, and molded the judgments of men. It has not been 
left for us to immortalize thy names, for beyond our feeble 
reach they are graved on the tablets and shrined in the 
hearts of nations. It has not been left for us to wreathe 
thy brows with lintels that defy the touch of time, for the 
world has crowned them with laurels that shall endure 
forever. It has not been left for us to broaden the pedestals 
nor place the capstones on the pyramids of thy fame, for 
thine own hands have builded the one as broad as earth 
and the other as high as heaven. But it has been left for 
us to glory in the fact of birth in a land dowered with the 
knightly genius of th}- patriotism and the peerless chivalr}- 
of thy deeds. Caesar nor Napoleon inspired their armed 
legions with such spirit for war as thou hast wrought in 
thy countrymen for peace, noj waged such victories in 
battle as thou hast won in the forum, nor massed such 
power for oppression as thou hast arrayed for freedom, nor 
transmitted such glory to the nations as thy example to 
posterity. [Loud applause.] 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin iii 



Address of Mr. Gillespie, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker: By the act of Congress passed in 1864 
each State of the Union is invited to place in Statnary 
Hall of this Capitol the statues of two of her sons 
renowned in civil or military life. Texas has accepted 
this invitation and presented to the nation the statues of 
Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. Austin, the 
revered father of Texas, and Houston, her matchless 
defender and preserver. Texas is most fortunate in her 
choice, and the nation may be congratulated upon it, for 
the lives of these two men furnish forcible examples of 
those noble deeds and high resolves which shone so re- 
splendently in the lives of the founders of this nation, 
and have ever been and ever will be cherished as the 
most sacred memories of our people. They also furnish 
the highest hope and surest inspiration for the preserva- 
tion of our liberties. Austin's life embodies hope ; Hous- 
ton's, courage. Hope and courage are the parent virtues 
of our race. Hope plants, courage defends. 

Both these men were born in Virginia the same year. 
Houston, March 2, 1793; Austin, November 3. Hous- 
ton's parents moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania ; Aus- 
tin's, from Connecticut and New Jersey. They were both 
of the stock we call Scotch-Irish. The hearts of their 
Old World ancestors were set on fire for religious free- 
dom by the eloquence of John Knox. The>- migrated 



112 Acceptance of St a hies of 

from Scotland to the north of Ireland, whence they largely 
peopled these shores and constitute onr best citizens. 
They have been fonnd wherever privation was to be 
endnred, the forest to be felled, cities to be founded. 
States to be bnilt, the savage to be driven back, liberty 
to be defended, or God to be worshiped. 

Mr. Speaker, in reviewing the early history of Texas 
from the time her life-giving sunshine first enveloped the 
frail form of Stephen F. Austin and her healthful breezes 
first cooled his patriot brow, on through his wonderful 
labor of love and sacrifice, on yet through the time when 
the fair form of Texas liberty first attracted the eye and 
enofasfed the heart of Sam Houston and caused him to 
throw his strong arms around her, on until Texas took 
her place in the Union of our fathers. When we review 
these things we are brought face to face with the ever- 
watchful care of Almighty God, who numbers the ver}' 
hairs of our head and without whose knowledge a sparrow 
falls not to the ground. How he fitted the means to the 
end. To accomplish what Austin accomplished required 
the use of every virtue of head and heart, and Austin 
possessed them. He was modest and imassuming ; he was 
candid, sincere, plain, and direct ; he was painstaking, 
cautious, and watchful ; he was patient and industrious ; he 
possessed the sublimest moral courage and the noblest 
spirit of self-sacrifice ; he was well educated, skillful, and 
sagacious ; his language and conduct were pure and chaste ; 
he was both a statesman and a patriot. Men delighted to 
intrust him with their lives, their property, their fortunes. 
He ruled b\- love. His colon}- absorbed his very being. 



Sa»i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 113 

But every human life has its limitations, beyond which it 
can not pass. So Austin had his. Although he possessed 
the power of a military dictator over his people he never 
once exerted it. He established courts ; even-handed 
justice was meted out to all. 

The civil administration of his colony is one of the 
proudest monuments to his genius and patriotism. But 
other colonies were established in Texas and other settle- 
ments made after Austin had founded his — notably De 
Witt's colony, whose capital was Gonzales, and the 
settlement of Victoria, southwest of Austin's colony, and 
those of Nacogdoches and San Augustine, in east Texas. 
New settlers were constantly arriving. Many of them 
were young, bold, ambitious spirits; many also were reck- 
less and lawless. At the beginning of the revolution in 
Texas, in 1835, when the purpose of Santa Ana to dis- 
arm the Texans and hold the province in absolute sub- 
jection to his will, or to drive out the American settlers 
with fire and sword, was made manifest, it became 
necessary for all the people of Texas to act together. 
The situation demanded a leader. Why not Austin? 

The newcomers knew not Austin. He had no mili- 
tary experience; his presence was not commanding; the 
gift of eloquence was not his; his modesty and retiring 
manners were interpreted for weakness. Austin himself 
turned to Houston, and Houston was there! Houston 
was a man of magnificent presence. He was 6 feet 2 
inches in height, of a large, perfectly formed frame, erect 
as it was possible for a man to be, grace in every move- 
ment, a voice full of deliberation and melody, his eye 
H. Doc. 474, 58-3 s 



114 Acceptance of Statues of 

penetrating and kind. He was described substantially as 
above by ex-Governor Roberts, of Texas. Besides his 
personal appearance, nature had filled his soul with 
eloquence and it burst forth as naturally as water from 
the mountain's side. 

Courage was also his natural attribute. His fame, too, 
had preceded him to Texas. The strange life of his 
boyhood among the Indians; his daring acts of valor at 
Horseshoe Bend under the very eye of Andrew Jackson; 
Jackson's friendship for him; his sudden rise to the gov- 
ernorship of Tennessee; the separation from his wife; 
the consequent convulsions produced in Tennessee; the 
sudden dashing from his lips the cup of fortune and 
quitting the State of Tennessee as a citizen forever, 
taking up his life again among the Indians; his visit to 
Washington in their behalf; his famous trial by Con- 
gress for assaulting a Member in Washington ; the 
triumphal issue of this trial — the fame of these things 
preceded Houston to Texas, and when he stood among 
her people there was about him an irresistible fascination 
and attraction for all men. There he stood, a prince 
among meji, God's best endowed, and nature's nobleman. 
Yes, he stood there clad in buckskin with an Indian 
blanket thrown across his shoulder, a dress suited to his 
day and work. 

As of Austin so of Houston, it can be said that none 
but Houston could have accomplished Houston's work. 
Every accident of Houston's history was preparatory to 
his great work in Texas. For the little band of patriots 
to successfull)- cope with Mexico the Indians must be 



Sa;ji Houston and Stephen F. Anstin 115 

kept down. Houston, before he began his famous cam- 
paign ending with San Jacinto, made a treaty with the 
Indians which they faithfully kept. Houston's knowl- 
edge of the Indian character was most profound ; he was 
their sincere friend. It is said that the Indians never 
broke a treaty the}- made with Houston. His greatest 
efforts in the United States Senate were in behalf of the 
Indians. He believed the Indian capable of high devel- 
opment if properly treated. He mourned to the last over 
the Indian's fate. This is a description of an eyewitness 
to a meeting in Washington between Houston and a 
party of Indians while Houston was Senator. 

During the latter part of June, 1846, General Morehead arrived at Wash- 
ington with a party of wild Indians from Texas, belonging to more than a 
dozen tribes. We saw their meeting with General Houston. One and 
all ran to him and clasped him in their brawny arms and hugged him like 
bears to their naked breasts and called him "father." Beneath the cop- 
per skin and thick paint the blood rushed and their faces changed; the 
lip of many a warrior trembled, although the Indian may not weep. 
These wild men knew him and revered him as one who was too directly 
descended from the Great Spirit to be approached with familiarity, and yet 
they loved him so well they could not help it. These were the men "he 
had been too subtle for on the warpath, too powerful in battle, too mag- 
nanimous in victor}', too wise in council, and too true in faith." They had 
flung away their arms in Texas, and with the Commanche chief who headed 
their file they had come to Washington to see their " father." I said these 
iron warriors shed no tears when they met their old friend, but white men 
who stood by will tell what they did. We were there, and have witnessed 
few scenes in which mingled more of what is called the "moral sublime." 
In the gigantic form of Houston, on whose ample brow the beneficent 
love of a father was struggling with the sternness of the patriotic warrior, 
we saw civilization awing the savage at his feet. W^e needed no interpre- 
ter to tell us that this impressive supremacy was gained in the forest. 

Houston, in the United States Senate, thus poured out 

the lamentation of his soul over the Indian's fate : 

As a race they have withered from the land. Their arrows are broken, 
and their springs are dried up; their cabins are inthedu.st. Their council 



ii6 Accepta7ice of Statues of 

fire has long since gone out on the shore, and their war cry is fast dying 
out to the untrodden West. Slowly and sadly they climb the mountains 
and read their doom in the setting sun. They are shrinking before the 
mighty tide which is pressing them away; they must soon hear the roar 
of the last wave, which will settle over them forever. Ages hence the 
inquisitive white man, as he stands by some growing city, will ponder on 
the structure of their disturbed remains and wonder to what manner of 
person they belonged. The}^ will live only in the songs and chronicles 
of their exterminators. Let these be faithful to their rude virtues as men, 
and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people. 

Preparatory to Houston's power over the Indians we 
have his life among them. For his power over men we 
may trace the cause beyond his fame, his eloquence, and 
his personality. Here is what is said of his father: 

His father was a man of moderate fortune; indeed, he seems to have 
possessed the means only of a comfortable subsistence. He was known 
onlv for one passion, and this was for military life. He had borne his 
part in the Revolution, and was successively the inspector of General 
Bowyer's and General Moore's brigades. The latter post he held till his 
death, which took place in 1807, while he was on a tour of inspection 
among the Allegheny Mountains. He was a man of powerful frame, fine 
bearing, and indomitable courage. These qualities his son inherited, and 
they were the only legacy he had to leave him. 

And this of his mother: 

His mother was an e.xtraordinary woman. She was distinguished by 
a full, rather tall, and matronly form, a fine carriage, and an impressive, 
dignified countenance. She was gifted with intellectual and moral quali- 
ties, which elevated her in a still more striking manner above most of her 
sex. Her life shone with purity and benevolence, and yet she was nerved 
with a stern fortitude, which never gave way in the midst of the wild 
scenes that chequered the history of the frontier settler. Her beneficence 
was universal, and her name was called with gratitude b}' the poor and 
suffering. Many years afterwards her son returned from his distant exile 
to weep by her bedside when she came to die. 

Houston was educated in no school but the wilderness; 
he had access to no books but Nature, Pope's Iliad, and 
the Bible. The hunger of his soul was his only teacher. 
Houston awoke to consciousness in the days that were 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 117 

resounding with the praise of the heroes of the Revohition, 
many of whom were still living, from whose lips he heard 
their wonderful story, and it never fell upon more willing 
ears. At the close of his life he said of these early heroes 
in a public address to the people of Texas: 

I stand the last almost of a race who learned from their lips the lessons 
of human freedom. 

This, too, was a school in which he was taught. He 
possessed a fine memory. That he had a strong mind 
and could go by leaps and bounds where the average 
mind must plod along is abundantly shown by his writ- 
ings, State papers, and speeches, no less than his quick 
step to the front as a lawyer when he took up that 
profession in Tennessee. 

Houston must be torn loose from Tennessee. We 
therefore have the separation from his wife, the consequent 
turning aloose the tongue of slander all o\-er the State. 
This brought envy and jealousy to the front. All Tennes- 
see was stirred. Houston and anti-Houston parties were 
formed, until a situation was produced which, if persisted 
in, appeared to Houston would put him in the attitude 
of warring against a woman. His chivalrous soul shrank 
from this, and he suddenly resigned the office of governor 
and sought refuge from this great secret sorrow around 
the council fires of the old Indian chief who had been the 
friend of his boyhood. And here, too, Houston must have 
the opportunit>- to convince the Indians that not onh- could 
he enter into their lives with them as a boy, but that as 
a man he could undertake great things for them at Washing- 
ton and even suffer persecution for their sake,which he did. 



ii8 Acceptance of Statues of 

Before Houston left Washington the last time, before 
going to Texas, President Jackson offered him different 
honorable positions, bnt owing to the charges against him in 
Tennessee and also the accusations made against him bv the 
friends of the dishonest Indian agents whom he had caused 
to be expelled from the service, he thought that his accept- 
ance of a position under the President might embarrass the 
latter, so he refused. Therefore, when he left Washington 
this time it was again to go into voluntary exile so far as 
the white man was concerned. But he had agreed with 
the President to go on a secret mission to the Comanche 
Indians at San Antonio, Tex. Also he had in mind the 
selection of a cattle ranch. So his first trip into Texas, in 
December, 1832, was for this purpose. He passed through 
Nacogdoches, Tex., on his way to San Antonio, had his 
meeting with the Indians at the latter place, and passed 
again on his way back through Nacogdoches. When he 
reached this place he was given such a warm welcome b}- 
the inhabitants, and so besought by them to become one of 
their number, that he consented. It was also explained to 
him that delegates were to be elected right away to a con- 
stitutional convention at San Felipe de Austin, April i, 
1833, and requested him to permit his name to be used as 
a candidate for delegate. He consented to this. This cir- 
cumstance doubtless aroused the slumbering ambition of 
his soul. Who could more clearly than Houston see the 
possibilities that lay before him in the event he cast his 
fortunes with these pioneer patriots? They saw in him 
their leader; he saw in them his opportunity, and Houston 
was himself again. He went on to Natchitoches, La., to 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 119 

give the United States Government the resnlt of his con- 
ference with the Indians and returned to Nacogdoches to 
find that he had been unanimously elected a delegate to 
the convention at San Felipe de Austin. Houston 
attended this convention, and there, so far as history tells 
us, met for the first time Stephen F. Austin. And this 
convention was the first deliberative assembly composed of 
men of the Anglo-Saxon race that ever met within the 
dominion of Mexico and the first step in that great move- 
ment that never stopped until it reached the Pacific Ocean. 
This convention adopted a constitution for Texas as a 
separate State of Mexico, and also a memorial to the 
central government pra}-ing that Texas might be admitted 
as a separate Mexican State. Stephen F. Austin was 
appointed one of three commissioners to convey this con- 
stitution and memorial to the City of Mexico and urge the 
admission of Texas into the Mexican Union. Houston 
and Austin both had no other purpose at this time than 
the advancement of the interests of Texas as a Mexican 
State. Austin had always been true to the constitution 
of Mexico, which was adopted in 1824, 3-^^<i which pro- 
vided for a republican form of government, and was 
modeled after that of the United States. It is believed 
that Austin himself drew the draft of this constitution 
while he was in the City of Mexico, 1822 to 1824, whither 
he had gone to protect the rights of his colonists, and it is 
known that while there he drew the plan of colonization 
provided for in that constitution and that his opinions were 
sought and highly prized b}- the statesmen of Mexico. In 
all the shifting scenes of the Government in Mexico from 



1 20 Acceptance of Statues of 

1824 to 1835 Austin only contended for the rights of 
Texas under the constitution of 1824. While the military 
of the Texas province was against Santa Ana, the colo- 
nists, under Austin's lead, were with him, because Santa 
Ana pretended to be the friend of the constitution of 1824, 
and not until he clearly showed in 1833 and afterwards 
that he intended to overthrow this constitution and have 
himself declared military dictator of Mexico did Austin 
lose the hope of securing the rights of Texas under the 
Government of Mexico and advise the Texans to declare 
for independence. 

When Austin reached Mexico with the constitution 
and memorial of 1833 he was received coldly and given 
to understand that the actions of the Texans were offen- 
sive to Santa Ana, who was then the government. He 
remained in Mexico long enough to become thoroughly 
convinced of the real designs of Santa Ana. When he 
did become so convinced he wrote a letter back home 
advising Texas of the true situation and probably sug- 
gesting defensive measures. This letter was intercepted 
b}- the Mexican authorities and declared to be treasonable. 
Austin was on his way home and had gotten as far as 
Saltillo, where he was arrested and taken back to Mexico 
and confined in a dark camp prison for several months. 
After a while the rigor of his imprisonment was relieved, 
but he was still kept a prisoner. He was anxious for a 
trial, but no court would try him. Finally Santa Ana 
released him, and he returned to Texas in 1835. When 
the news of Austin's persecution by Santa Ana reached 
Texas the people became very indignant and arose as one 



Saf)i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 121 

man for protection against the tyranny of Santa Ana, 
who also issned an edict demanding of the Texans the 
surrender of their small arms. This, if carried out, would 
leave them defenseless against the Indians, as well as 
many of them without the means of procuring subsistence, 
since they lived upon the meat of wild animals. The 
revolution was now on. Committees of safety were formed. 
A consultation convention was called to meet at Wash- 
ington about October i, 1835. This convention met. 
About this time the Mexican soldiers undertook to carry 
off a small 4-pound cannon from Gonzales, the capital of 
De Witt's colony. This cannon was used as protection 
against Indians. The citizens resisted its removal. This 
was the first struggle of the revolution. The Texans 
triumphed. Austin appeared and was made commander 
in chief of the army of Texas. Houston, in the mean- 
time, had been declared commander in chief of the army 
of Texas east of the Trinity. Houston made several 
eloquent speeches at different assemblies urging delibera- 
tion on the part of the Texans. Austin's troops had 
captured San Antonio and Goliad. 

The consultation convention met at Washington and 
changed to San Felipe. From this place Austin invited 
them to his camp near San Antonio. Houston and the 
majority of the convention went. Austin offered to 
surrender his command to Houston, who refused it. A 
council of war was held, and it was decided to leave it to 
the 800 men of the arm}^ whether a provisional govern- 
ment should be established. The army decided unani- 
mously for a provisional government. The members of the 



122 Acceptance of Statues of 

convention then went back to San Felipe, reorganized, and 
provided for a provisional government and elected 
Houston commander in chief of the army of Texas, and 
Austin as a commissioner to the United States to secure 
aid for Texas. 

Events rapidly developed. The declaration of inde- 
pendence was adopted March 2, 1836. Santa Ana invaded 
Texas with an army of 7,000 men. The Goliad and 
Alamo tragedies occurred. Houston's famous retreat, 
starting with an army of 374 men, pursued by Santa Ana 
with 5,000. On this retreat Houston's army grew to 700. 
Santa Ana divided his army into three divisions, which 
became widel}' separated. Only one division, led by Santa 
Ana himself, numbering about 1,500, immediately fol- 
lowed Houston. 

Learning this, Houston turned to meet his enemy. The 
two armies faced each other on the field of San Jacinto the 
day before the battle. The next morning the sun arose 
without a cloud to break his beams. The Mexicans were 
entrenched behind a breastwork made up of camp equipage, 
saddles, and such scanty material as was convenient. The 
Texans had been complaining at their long retreat. They 
were anxious for the fray. It was difficult to restrain 
them the day before, when they first faced the Mexicans. 
They had everything to fight for — their homes, their 
country, their honor, their vengeance, their liberty, their 
religion. They were drawn up in line of battle. Hous- 
ton's eloquence stirred them. The order to charge was 
given. They rushed upon their enemy like demons. 
The first volley of the Mexicans missed them, and they 



Saw Houston and Stephen F. Austin 123 

rushed on over the enemy's breastwork. A slaughter, a 
rout, began ; within twenty minutes the field was won — won 
to the everlasting renown of the Anglo-Saxon, won to 
human freedom, and to the highest and best civilization 
the world ever saw. 

Lieutenant Sylvester, volunteer from Ohio, captured 
Santa Ana. He was carried to Houston. Houston's 
magnanimous treatment of his fallen foe, his sagacity in 
protecting him from the just wrath of the Texans, his ex- 
treme care for the comfort of Santa Ana — this conduct has 
won for Houston the praise of all true men. It reveals 
what manner of man was beneath the buckskin dress, and 
is an honor to humanity. 

This victory lifted Houston into the arena of national 
politics, where he easily impressed himself upon the coun- 
tr}' as a wise and sagacious statesman ; also his broad 
American spirit was revealed to the workh Houston was 
almost unanimously elected the first president of the re- 
public, with so great a name in Texas as that of Stephen 
F. Austin used in opposition to him. However, Austin 
made no efforts in his own behalf. Houston offered 
Austin the choice of two positions — secretary of state and 
minister to the United States. The latter was more 
preferable to Austin, because the long confinement in the 
Mexican prison and the strain of the revolution had under- 
mined his constitution and his health had given way. He 
felt that he needed rest. But the people, too often unmind- 
ful of the welfare of their benefactors, clamored for Austin 
to take the position of secretary. Austin knew more about 
their land titles and internal affairs than an)- living man. 



124 Acceptance of Statues of 

Austin yielded to their demands and offered himself a 
further sacrifice for the people of Texas. The burden was 
too heavy for his frail frame, and he died December 27, 
1836, and President Houston issued the following order: 

War Department, Columbia, December 2 j, i8j6. 

The father of Texas is no more. 

The first pioneer of the wilderness has departed. Gen. vSTEphen F. 
Austin, secretary of state, expired this day at half past 12 o'clock, at 
Columbia. 

As a testimony of respect to his high standing, undeviating moral recti- 
tude, and as a mark of the nation's gratitude for his untiring zeal and 
invaluable services, all officers, civil and military, are requested to wear 
crape on the right arm for the space of thirty days. All officers com- 
manding posts, garrisons, or detachments will, as soon as information is 
received of the melancholy event, cause thirty -three guns to be fired, with 
an interval of five minutes between each, and also have the garrison and 
regimental colors hung with black during the .space of mourning for the 
illustrious dead. 

By order of the President: 

William S. Fisher, Secretary of War. 

Thus was gathered unto his fathers Stephen F. Austin, 
whose memory shall be cherished by men as long as 
gratitude shall dwell in their hearts and they shall love 
truth, purity, honor, the noble, and the true. He sowed, 
and the seed fell upon good ground, and the whole nation 
is now reaping the harvest of his labors. 

Houston's history, from his election as President of the 
Republic of Texas untjl his death, is but the history of 
Texas as a Republic and a State. His first and controlling 
purpose was to have Texas admitted into this Union. He 
at first assumed the attitude of a suppliant. When he 
saw that was a failure he took an indift'erent, independent, 
almost defiant position. He very adroitly let it be under- 
stood that England or France was anxious to form an alli- 
ance with Texas. He managed to place before the people 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 125 

of the United States the great advantage Texas would be 
to either England or France. He even went so far as to 
direct his minister at Washington to withdraw the appli- 
cation of Texas for admission into the Union and give out 
the statement that the next advance toward that end must 
come from the United States. Houston had attracted to 
Texas the eyes of the ambitious statesmen of England and 
France by first gaining their respect. He did this in a 
very able appeal to the civilized powers of the world, ask- 
ing them to intervene to stop Mexico from pursuing her 
barbarous methods of warfare against Texas, in violation 
of all laws of civilized nations — that is, not b^• marchino- 
her armies into Texas and trying her fortunes in honor- 
able battle with those of the little Republic, but by sending 
raiding bands across the Rio Grande, whose only object 
was to plunder and murder the peaceful inhabitants of 
Texas. This address gave the history of Texas as only 
Houston could write it. 

This plan of Houston's was successful. The first great 
object of his ambition after San Jacinto was accomplished. 
Texas became a member of this Union and Houston and 
Rusk were her first Senators. Both of Houston's admin- 
istrations of the affairs of the Republic were marked by 
conser\^atism and the highest devotion to the best interests 
of the people of Texas. Wherever his policies were pur- 
sued, order and stability and prosperity resulted ; when his 
advice was ignored, dissensions arose, wild schemes were 
resorted to, and disorder prevailed. Houston's broad 
American spirit shone most resplendent when he took his 
position in the Senate of the United States. He was an 



126 Acceptance of Statues of 

niicompromising friend of the Federal Union. He was the 
everlasting foe to sectional jealonsies, animosities, and dis- 
sensions. He was opposed to secession. He loved the 
Union. He believed with all his sonl that the peace, hap- 
piness, and prosperity of the American people, not less than 
the hope of human freedom everywhere, depended upon the 
preservation of this Union. History affords no better 
example of sublime moral courage than that HoUvSTon 
gave to the world in the closing da}'s of his life. He loved 
the South, he loved Texas, but his judgment and his con- 
science marked out for him the path of duty. He thought 
secession was wrong in principle, and, if admitted, meant 
the destruction of all government on this continent. While 
in the Senate he threw his whole force against the current 
of this movement , and afterwards, while a candidate for 
governor of Texas, and wdiile governor of Texas, he 
exerted all the powers of his soul, mind, and bod)', save a 
resort to force, to keep Texas in the Union. But the tide 
was too strong, even he could not stay it ; but he would not 
go with it, and quitted the capital of his State forever and 
retired to his modest home to die, July 25, 1863, the 
uncompromising friend of the American Union. 

Thus the child of the wilderness, the brave soldier of 
Tohopeka, the governor of two States, the president of one 
Republic, the United States Senator, the hero of San Jacinto, 
was gathered unto his fathers. Two purer, nobler, braver 
spirits never blessed the earth than Stephkn F. Austin 
and Samuel Houston. [Loud applause.] 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 127 



Address of Mr. Slayden, of Texas 

Mr. Speaker: Few countries have a more picturesque 
and interesting liistor}^ than Texas. It has all the elements 
of an absorbing drama. High courage, de\'otion to duty, 
carnage of the battlefield, and the intellectual pla)' of the 
council chamber are a few of the chapters one may read in 
the history of the State. Making due allowance for the 
partiality of a devoted son of the great Commonwealth who 
has enjoyed her favor, I feel that I am well within the 
truth when I say that her history, which is certainly 
unique, should command the admiration of all Americans. 

Once a province of Spain, she was coveted and claimed 
by France. Then a part of the first Mexican Republic, 
she suffered for a few years the vicissitudes of that country, 
to emerge in 1836 an independent nation. Nine )'ears 
later, by a solemn treaty between the high contracting 
parties, she became a State of the American Union. For 
four years she gave her allegiance to the Confederacy of 
the South, but is now back in the Union, where, in the 
fullness of time, she is destined to become the dominant 
partner of the Federal alliance. 

The introduction of Anglo-American civilization into 
Texas began in a feeble way about the close of the eight- 
eenth century. But the colonization of that day was 
desultory and unimportant. Now and then an individual 
or a few individuals, conscious only of a selfish purpose. 



128 Acceptance of Statues of 

but none the less instruments of civilization, as we under- 
stand the term, invaded the wilderness west of the Sabine. 
Occasionally organized bodies of men, in whom it was hard 
to distinguish the quality of trader from that of filibuster, 
marched and fought their way to the West. 

The Spanish authorities were jealous and watchful, 
and when they could do so drove these invaders ^back to 
the Valley of the Mis.sissippi. 

The political nature of these expeditions to Texas is 
conspicuously shown in that which set out from Natchez 
in 1 819, under the command of Col. James Long. His 
party, after many adventures and hardships, finally reached 
Nacogdoches, then the most important place in Texas 
after San Antonio de Bexar, where they proclaimed the 
Republic of Texas. As Colonel Long only had 75 men, 
and as he failed to enlist the support of the Republicans 
who were supposed to be in Texas, or other help, the 
puny Republic did not survive its early infancy. 

It would be tedious, and for this occasion unprofitable, 
to trace the history of Texas through the bewildering 
maze of revolution and counter revolution of the Mexico 
of that period. 

The meager resources of the Texans contrast strangely 
with the mighty enterprises in which they engaged. 
Only the sacrifices and sublime courage with which the}- 
supported their plans saved them from the ridicule of 
historians. 

In all the vast and fertile area of the province of Texas 
there were then only about 4,000 people, including In- 
dians. Scattered as they were, cohesive action, either for 



Sa»i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 12O 

the defense of their property and lives or for political 
aggression, was almost impossible. Yet the poverty of 
their numbers and circumstance did not prevent them 
from entertaining dreams of empire. The territory and 
the fruits of what was to become, a generation later, the 
independent Republic of Texas were battled for by 
adventurers from everywhere during this period. 

Lafitte, the pirate, who had been expelled from Bara- 
taria, near the mouth of the Mississippi, but who had 
taken time from his illicit trade to help repel the British 
at New Orleans; Mina, a Spanish soldier, who had 
reached some distinction during the Peninsular war, and 
Lallemand and Rigault, from the armies of Napoleon, 
with a horde of American adventurers, were strikino- if 
not honorable figures of that time. 

Stretching from the Sabine to the Rio Grande and 
from the Gulf to and beyond Red River on the north 
was a land as fair and as rich as ever tempted the 
cupidity of man. It had a climate of unsurpassed excel- 
lence. Rich and succulent grasses sustained vast herds 
of wild horses; the buffalo and deer were in countless 
numbers on every prairie; the air of springtime, then as 
now, was redolent with the perfume of flowers, beautiful 
and abundant, and every tree and bush had its chorus 
of singing birds. 

The land-hungry Americans could not be kept from 
such a paradise. Comfort and independence beckoned 
them on. 

Yet it remained for Moses Austin, a Missouri merchant, 
and his immortal son, Stephen, to do peaceably in a 

H. Doc. 474, 5S-3 9 



130 Acceptance of Statues of 

few years what organized filibusters had tried in vain to 
accomplish. 

The difficulties in the way of the peaceable American 
colonists were many. The people and the Government 
of Mexico were Catholic in religion. The majority of 
the Americans, particularly the class from which such 
colonists could be drawn, were Protestants. Texas was 
a province of the Kingdom of Spain, while the American 
immigrants were Republicans after the manner of Jeffer- 
son. In fact every condition, save the fertility of the 
soil and the beauty of the climate, was calculated to 
repel emigration from the States of the American Union. 
Gradually the French and Spanish titles in North Amer- 
ica had been relinquished to the irresistible Anglo- 
American. The transfer of Louisiana and of the Floridas 
were significant facts of recent history which did not 
allay the jealous apprehension of the Mexican authorities. 
To this unpromising field the Austins applied their 
energies and talents. 

While Sam Houston is easily the most picturesque and 
eminent figure we have, the profound student of Texas 
history will find no difficulty in reaching the conclusion 
that citizens of the State owe an equal debt of gratitude to 
the Austins, father and son. 

In speaking of these two really great men Professor 
Garrison, of the university which their labors helped to 
create, says : 

It is only of late that the world, with the results before its eyes, has 
begun to realize what they accomplished. If they themselves, upon the 
threshold of their undertaking, could have looked forward to the revolu- 
tion of 1836, annexation, the Mexican war, the acquisitions made by the 



Sain Houston and StcpJioi F. Austin 131 

treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and the marvelous development of Texas 
and California, they must have been staggered by the consequences that 
were to flow from their enterprise. Yet this chain of events has followed 
"as night the day" the work planned and begun by Moses Austin and 
carried out by his son Stephen. 

Doctor Garrison, who has gone to the root of things in his 
stndy of Texas history, declares the work of the Austins 
to have been of "vast and manifest importance." He calls 
them the makers of Anglo-American Texas. 

Moses Austin, who for years had been a merchant in 
Virginia and Missouri, traveled on horseback from what is 
now Washington County, Mo., to San Antonio — a distance 
of about a thousand miles — in order to arrange with the 
authorities of Spain for the introduction of a colony. 

Having overcome the objection of the governor, his 
petition for a contract to settle 300 families in Texas was 
indorsed and forwarded to the national capital for approval. 
There were the usual delays in the Mexican capital, and 
Austin decided to return to his home in Missouri to await 
the arrival of the papers from Mexico. In crossing Texas 
to Natchitoches he was robbed and abandoned by his 
Indian guides and wandered about for days, subsisting on 
roots and nuts until discovered and rescued by white trap- 
pers. He suffered so from the hardships and exposures of 
the journey that he died soon after reaching Missouri. But 
just before his death he learned that his petition had been 
granted. To his son, Stephen Fuller Austin, he 
bequeathed the contract and its responsibilities. 

No trust was ever put into safer hands. In hinif.yvere 
fortunately combined the vigor of youth and the wisdom 
of asfe. 



132 Acceptance of Statues of 

He immediately proceeded to San Antonio by way of 
Nacogdoches, where he met the commissioners who had 
been sent by the Spanish authorities to confer with his 
father. 

After the official formalities had been settled he pro- 
ceeded to the execution of the contract. In December, 
1 82 1, settlers were brought in and placed on the land. 

The lot of the American pioneer has not always been a 
happ)' one. As disasters came to the settlers at Jamestown, 
so did they also come to those upon the Colorado. The 
wisest forethought and the most prudent administration 
could not avoid some degree of disaster, and so, in the next 
year or two, many of the less hardy emigrants returned to the 
United States. Supplies that had been shipped from New 
Orleans did not arrive, seed were scarce, crops failed, and 
the savages were annoying. But during all these trying 
times Austin never wavered in his faith nor ceased his 
exertions for the benefit of the settlement. 

It was particularly unfortunate that at this crisis in the 
affairs of the colony he was compelled to go to the City of 
Mexico to have his grant confirmed and to receive instruc- 
tions concerning its administration. He at once undertook 
the overland trip of 1,200 miles, through a country infested 
by robbers, where law was only occasionally administered 
and order rarely known. 

The historian suggests a picture of northern Mexico of 
that day when he savs that by "good fortune Austin 
got safely through." He was detained in the Mexican 
capital for nearh- a year. It was during that year and 
inider the most trying circumstances that the mettle of 



Sn;n Houston and Stephen F. xiitstin 133 

the man was shown. Political conditions in Mexico at 
that time were possibly without parallel in any other part 
of the world. The concession to Moses Austin had been 
made by the Kingdom of Spain. When STEPHEN F. 
Austin reached the capital of Mexico he dealt with tlie 
republic which followed the expulsion of the Spaniards. 
Then came the empire of Iturbide, which endured for a 
few months only. It was succeeded by another so-called 
republic that was born in a revolution headed by Antonio 
Lopez de Santa Ana, whose subsequent connection with 
the history of Texas did not increase his reputation. 

During this epoch of turbulent and rapidly changing 
governments Austin never lost sight of the purpose of 
his visit to Mexico. He always kept in mind his duty 
to the colonists w^honi he had brought to Texas. When 
his contract was annulled by one government, he secured 
its renewal by another. He was diligent, and above all 
he was diplomatic. Each administration in its turn 
yielded its respect and confidence to the quiet, persistent 
American. Like St. Paul, he was all things to all men. 
When the opportunity offered he advanced his enterprise. 

When circumstances demanded delay he was patient. 
He devoted his leisure to the study of the Spanish lan- 
guage and became expert in its use. He made himself 
acquainted with the laws of Spain and of Mexico, and 
so much did he impress himself upon the leading men 
of Mexico that he is said to have been an important 
factor in writing the constitution of 1824, a violation of 
which, by the Federal Government, is given as the tech- 
nical cause of the revolution of 1836. 



134 Acceptance of Statues of 

When Austin returned to Texas from Mexico he was 
authorized by the Federal Government to exercise admin- 
istrative, military, and judicial functions. In fact, he was 
made dictator for the colony. He was that rare person, 
a benevolent dictator in whom, some have contended the 
ideal government is to be found. But under this governor, 
who had been clothed with such extraordinary powers, 
free speech, popular elections, and democratic government 
were the practice. 

Such independence of thought and freedom of move- 
ment as characterized the Texans were hardly guaranties 
of continued loyalty to the revolutionary government in 
the remote capital of Mexico. The American colonists 
were hardly fit material out of which to make loyal 
subjects of a Spanish monarch or contented citizens in 
an unstable and badly administered republic. They were 
descendants of the men who fired the first shot at Lexing- 
ton and of those whose bloody feet stained the snows of 
Valley Forge and compelled the surrender of Cornwallis 
at Yorktowai. They were in training for the sacrifice of 
the Alamo and the success of San Jacinto. With such 
a setting, with such actors, and under such conditions, 
a severance of the political ties which bound Texas to 
Mexico was only a question of time. 

The obligations of the contract were not always respected 
b}' the Government of Mexico, and, although Austin tried 
loyally to discharge his duty and to induce the colonists 
to a full appreciation of theirs, friction increased between 
the people and the Federal authorities. Convention suc- 
ceeded convention, in all of w-hich the Texans set out 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 135 

their grievances and asked for relief. These petitions 
were either denied, ignored, or grudgingly and partially 
granted. Always the impending conflict was made more 
apparent and open revolt brought nearer and nearer. 

In December, 1832, the most romantic and conspicuous 
figure of all her history came to Texas. Sam Houston — 
for it is he of whom I now speak — came with the halo of 
romance and a great reputation as a statesman and soldier. 
He had been governor of Tennessee for two years, a Mem- 
ber of Congress, and was a soldier of experience. After 
resigning the governorship of the State of Tennessee, in 
1829, he sought his old friends, the Cherokee, and was 
formally received into citizenship by that tribe. After 
remaining with them for more than three years he yielded 
to the importunities of his friends in Texas and began the 
really great work of his life. His first public appearance 
in Texas was in the convention at San Felipe in 1833. 
He had only been in the State about three months, but 
men of his experience and ability were not so abundant 
that they could be overlooked. In those days of quick 
development the new citizen of to-day became the old 
inhabitant of to-morrow. The Texans were divided into 
two parties — one clamoring for war and the other pleading 
for peace. 

Austin, who was a lawyer and an ex-judge, trained to 
the observance of all laws, as well as a man of supersensi- 
tive conscience, was the most conservative figure in Texas 
at that time. He admitted his obligations to the Mexican 
Government and tried to live up to the contract. It was 
his influence that delayed the open revolt. 



136 Acceptance of Statues of 

By 1835 the demand for separation was so general and 
the reasons for it so abundant that even Austin gave way 
before the resistless tide. Indignities from Santa Ana, who 
had succeeded to the Presidency of Mexico, added to the 
wrath of the Texans. Men like Henry Smith and William 
B. Travis, who were leaders of the war party, were urging 
a declaration of independence. Austin, who some time 
before had gone to Mexico to try to ameliorate the condi- 
tion of his colony, and who had been imprisoned for some 
months while in Mexico, returned during the summer of 
1835 to find his and other colonies in a state of almost open 
revolt. He was made chairman of the committee of safet}' 
in the fall of 1835, and on the 19th of September of that 
year issued an address to the people of Texas advising 
them that war was inevitable and urging the immediate 
organization of military companies. 

That the enterprise in which they were about to engage 
was desperate could not be denied. An orator of the da^■, 
in discussing the situation, said : 

And is the population of Texas sufficient? We presume it may be said 
with tolerable accuracy that we are 50,000 people, counting Indians. Ten 
hundred thousand make one million, and the smallest nation that sustains 
its relations with the powers of Christendom numbers, I believe, one and 
one-half million souls. 

Texas, then, contains less than one-twentieth of the population of the 
most insignificant among the nations of the earth. The population of 
Mexico is over 7,000,000. The disparity, therefore, is 140 to i. We are 
proud to claim for the citizens of Texas much gallantry and much greater 
aptitude for war than can be accredited to their antagonists; but 140 to i 
is fearful odds. 

The towering form of Thermopylae, which stands preeminent among 
the monuments of ancient glory, was achieved against mighty odds, but 
not such odds as this 



Sam Hon s foil and Stephen F. Austin 137 

But the counsels of the prudent were not regarded. The 
revohition was on, and the first blood was shed at Gonzales, 
on the 2d of October, 1835. Thereafter events marched 
rapidly. 

Gonzales was followed by the fight at the mission Con- 
cepcion, near San Antonio, which later was the scene of 
the most remarkable battle in the world's histor>\ 

From Gonzales and Concepcion to San Jacinto was, by 
the calendar, only about six months, but the period of 
gestation was long enough for the birth of a nation. It 
covers the siege and massacre of the Alamo. It runs to 
the triumph of Houston's army over Santa Ana. It was 
long enough to show that Texans knew how to fight and 
die. It sufficed to prove their wise generosity to a fallen 
foe, whose murder of the immortals of the Alamo had 
placed him be^'ond the right of any such consideration. 

It brought to the surface a large number of men of 
talent. To call the roll would be tedious, but out of 
the many I hope I may be pardoned for mentioning the 
names of Bowie, Crockett, Milam, Fannin, and Travis 
among those whose talents were exercised only in a 
military way. The soldier-statesman class embraced, 
among others. Rusk, Burnet, Lamar, Sherman, Burleson, 
and Za valla. 

After the battle of San Jacinto, Houston and his 
colleagues devoted themselves to the work of putting the 
new Republic on a solid foundation. 

Ill health denied to Austin the share in this work 
for which his talents and training gave him special 
fitness. He died on the 29th of December, in the same 



138 Acceptance of Statues of 

year that witnessed the birth of the new Republic. Just 
as much as any man who dies on the field of battle 
Stephen F. Austin gave his life to the State he had 
loved and for which he had fought and sacrificed. Hard- 
ships that can not be understood by people who do not 
know the frontier and the foul air of the Mexican prisons 
had done their work. 

His place in history was justly given by President 
Sam Houston, whose proclamation of sorrow^ said: "The 
father of Texas is no more. The first pioneer of the 
wilderness has departed." 

Slowly the work of the pioneer is coming to be appre- 
ciated. No longer is he regarded as merely a man who 
opens new territory to commerce. He laid the founda- 
tions of government, and on his labors much of the glory 
and prosperity of this great country is based. Chiefest 
among the pioneers is Stephen Fuller Austin. 

Of the brilliant career of Houston you have just been 
told by the eloquent gentlemen who have preceded me. 
I very much hope that what they have said and what, 
in a feeble way, I have hinted at may induce a closer 
study of Texas history. 

If you want an illustration of courage and devotion to 
duty, where can you find one to match the story of the 
Alamo? 

For days a mere handful of men — 178, but all daunt- 
less heroes — withstood the assaults of an enemy which 
numbered thousands. They scorned all suggestions of 
capitulation, and in the end all perished. 



Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin 139 

" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay 
down his life for his friends." 

If \o\\x faith in democracy ever falters, read the story 
of Texas and learn how a few scattered Americans in the 
face of great obstacles showed the true genius for gov- 
ernment by bringing order out of chaos, and through it 
all obeyed the popular will. 

We present to the Federal Union images of two of our 
great Texans, and rejoice in the knowledge that the}^ are 
fit for the noble compau)- they are to keep forevermore. 

[Loud applause.] 

Mr. Cooper of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous 
consent that my colleague, Mr. Sheppard, may print his 
remarks in the Record. 

The Speaker pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. Cooper of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I have had handed 
me a statement of the statues in Statuary Hall. As a 
public document I would like for it to be printed in the 
Record, and I ask unanimous consent that it may be 
printed. 

The Speaker pro tempore. Without objection, it will 
be so ordered. 

There was no objection. 



140 Acceptance of Statues of 

The statement is as follows: 

Statues in Statuary Hall, United States Capitol, from July 2, 1864, to Feb- 
ruary 25, I gas. 

[The number of States having only one is 5, marked thus *.] 



Statue. 


State. 


Congressional service. 


Roger Sherman 


Connecticut 


House of Representatives, 1791-1793. 


Jonathan Trumbull . . . 


do 


House of Representatives, First, Second, 
and Third; Senate, 1795-96. 




James Shields 


Illinois 


Senate, 1849-1855, Illinois; 1S5S-59, Minne- 
sota; 1S79, Mis.souri. 




Frances E Willard. . . . 


. . . do . 




Oliver P. Morton 


Indiana •■' 


Senate, 1867-1877. 


John J. Ingalls 

John Winthrop 


Kansas* 


Senate, 1873-1889. 

No .service in Congress; governor. 


Massachusetts . . . 




do 


Delegate toContinental Congress, 1774-1781. 
Delegate to Continental Congress, 1781-17S3. 




Maryland 




Charles Carroll 


jdo 


Senate, First Congress; resigned 1792. 


William King 






Michigan * 


Senate, 1845-1848, 1849-1857. > 

House of Representatives, Thirty-third Con- 
gress; Senate, 1821-1851. 


Thomas H. Benton. . . . 






Francis P. Blair 


do 


House of Representatives, Thirty-fifth to 
Thirty-eighth; Senate, 1S71-1873." 








New Hampshire . 
do 


No service in Congress. 

House of Representatives, Thirteenth, 
Fourteenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth; 
Senate, 1S27, 1845-1S50. 








Richard Stockton 


New Jersey 


Delegate Continental Congress, 1776-1777. 




do 




Robert R. Livingston. . 


New York 


Delegate to Continental Congress, 1775, 
1777-1779, 1781. 

Delegate to Continental Congress; Vice- 
President, 1804-1808. 




do . 






James A. Garfield 


Ohio 


House of Representatives, Thirtv-eighth to 
Forty-sixth; Senate, 1S81, and "President, 

1881. 




William Allen 


do 


House of Representatives, Twenty-third; 
Senate, 1837-1849, and governor, 1874-1876. 






Robert Fulton 


Penn.sylvania .... 


No service in Corgress. 


John Peter G. Muhl- 
enberg. 


do 


House of Representatives, First, Third, and 
Sixth, and Senator. 




Nathanael Greene 


Rhode Island .... 


No service in Congress. 


Roger Williams 


do ... 


Do 


Sam Houston 


Texas 


House of Representatives from Tennessee, 
1823; Senate, Texas, 1846-1859. 






Stephen F. Austin. . 


do 




Jacob Collamer 


Vermont 


House of Representatives, Twenty-eighth, 
Twentv-ninth, and Thirtieth; Senate, i8ss- 
1865. ■ . . 55 



Sajii Houston and Stephen F. Austin 



141 



Statues in Statuary Hatt, ( 'nitcd States Capitot , from Juty 2, 1S64, to Feb- 
ruary 2^, igo^ — Continued. 



Statue. 


State. 


Congressional service. 


Ethan Allen 




No service in Congress. 

House of Representatives, Forty-fifth, Forty- 
si.Yth. Forty-seventh, Forty-eighth; Sen- 
ate, 1 883- 1 893. 

No service in Congress; governor. 

No service in Congress. 


John E. Kenna 

Francis H. Pierpont . . 


West Virginia 

do 


Pere Marquette 


Wisconsin * 



The following are not represented in Statuary^ Hall: Alabama, Arkansas, California, 
Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Washington. Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, 
Miiniesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Wyoming, North Carolina, North 
Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia. Total, 
26 States. 

The number of States having their quota is 14. 

The Speaker pro tempore. The question i.s on the 
adoption of the resohitions. 

The question was taken, and the re.solutions were unani- 
mously adopted. 

]Mr. Cooper, of Texas. ]\Ir. Speaker, I move that the 
House do now adjourn. 

The motion was agreed to ; and accordingly (at 6 o'clock 
and 25 minutes p. m.) the House adjourned to meet to- 
morrow at 12 o'clock noon. 



MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. 

The message further announced that the House had 
agreed to a concurrent resolution extending the thanks of 
Congress to the State of Texas for providing the statues 
of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin to be placed 
in Statuary Hall ; in which it requested the concurrence 
of the Senate. 



142. Acceptance of Statues of 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE 



APRIL 4, 1904. 
MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE. 

The messao-e further announced that the House had 
passed a concurrent resolution authorizing the granting 
to the State of Texas the privilege of placing in Stat- 
uary Hall of the Capitol the statues of Sam Houston 
and Stephen F. Austin, both of whom, now deceased, 
were citizens of Texas, etc. ; in which it requested the 
concurrence of the Senate. 

APRIL 18, 1904. 
STATUES OF SAM HOUvSTON AND STEPHEN F. AUSTIN. 

Mr. Culberson. I ask the Chair to lay before the 
Senate a concurrent resolution which has passed the 
House of Representatives. 

The Presiding Officer laid before the Senate the fol- 
lowing concurrent resolution from the House of Repre- 
sentatives ; which was read : 

Resolved by the House of Representatives {tfie Senate concurring), That 
the State of Texas be, and is hereby, authorized and granted the privilege 
of placing in Statuary Hall of the Capitol the statues (made by the sculptor 
Elisabet Ney, of Texas) of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, both 
of whom, now deceased, were citizens of Texas, illustrious for their his- 
toric renown, and that same be received as the two statues furnished and 
provided by said State in accordance with the provisions of section 1814 of 
the Revised Statutes of the United States. 



Sa))i Houston and Stephen F. Austin 143 

Resolved further. That a copy of these resolutions, signed by the pre- 
siding officers of the House of Representatives and Senate, be forwarded 
to his excellency the governor of Texas. 

The President pro tempore. The question is on 
ao-reeing- to the concurrent resohition. 

The concurrent resohition was agreed to. 



o 



LE N "10 



